Monkey Snatches 1-Month-Old Baby From Mother's Lap, Infant Dies Of Injuries

A 1-month-old baby reportedly died after being snatched away by a monkey in a village in Tanzania.

According to local media reports, a troop of monkeys entered a home Saturday and dragged away the infant who was on his mother's lap.

The boy's mother, identified as Shayima Said, was sitting outside her house, breastfeeding her infant, when the monkeys attacked them. One of the monkeys then snatched the baby and tried to run away.

“It is true. The child was with his mother outside their house when a troop of monkeys invaded the house and took him,” Kigoma regional police commander, James Manyama, told the Citizen on Monday.

The mother "screamed for help and villagers rushed to her house to assist her in getting her child – identified as Luhaiba Said - back from the troop of monkeys,” he said.

The villagers tried to use force in a bid to scare away the monkey, which had the baby in its hands.

“When the villagers came it was too late because the baby was already in the hands of monkeys and when they tried to take him back by force he got injured on the head and the neck,” Manyama said.

The villagers finally managed to get the injured baby back, but the infant died while receiving treatment at a nearby hospital, Actu Cameroun reported [Google Translate showed].

“However, it should be noted that Mwamgongo village shares a border with Gombe National Park so incidents of animals invading villages are not uncommon,” he said.

In 2018, a similar incident took place in India, when a 12-day-old baby was snatched by a monkey. The monkey attack took place in a city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The newborn was later found mauled on the terrace of a neighbor's house. According to the family, the newborn was in his mother's lap when the monkey snatched him and escaped. The mother was breastfeeding the baby at the time. The family members chased the monkey but were unable to catch the animal. Later they found the baby lying on a neighbor’s terrace. The infant was rushed to a hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead.