Dozens of wild monkeys are terrorising villagers after they were forced from their homes by a new hotel being built.<br /><br />The long-tailed macaques have left their trees and been converging on the homes in the village of Lembang in West Java province, Indonesia.<br /><br />Locals claim the monkeys are stealing food, clothes and pulling the tiles from roofs. Footage recorded on Tuesday (July 7) shows the our-of-control monkeys squealing while running across the homes.<br /><br />Another video recorded in the same area showed the creatures relaxing in a attic after taking over one of the homes in in the village.<br /><br />Resident Tedi Kurniawan said: "We have never seen as many monkeys as this come to our village. Sometimes one or two come, but recently they often came in groups."<br /><br />Neighbours say the monkeys are unpredictable and swarm the area in large groups, usually late in the afternoon or early in the morning.<br /><br />Tedi said he was most concerned by the monkeys stealing food from shops and clothes from the washing lines while they are being dried under the sun.<br /><br />The roof tiles of the houses are also often damaged because of the jumping of the monkeys.<br /><br />Another worried local named Yanti added: "They come in lots, maybe around 30 to 50 monkeys each time." <br /><br />Residents suspect that the monkeys are leaving their natural habitat in nearby woodland after they are disturbed by the construction of a tourist resort.<br /><br />Officers from the West Java Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) have been mobilised to investigate the unusual behavior of the wild monkeys.<br /><br />West Java BKSDA officer Taufik Hamzah said: "It is necessary to coordinate all parties including the community around the forest area to determine what needs to be done so that the monkeys will no longer enter the village."
