A pack of wild monkeys broke into a house in India and snatched newborn twins, killing one of the eight-day-old girls, according to reports.
The mother, identified as 26-year-old R. Buvaneswari, told police the monkeys broke into her home in Thanjavur city on Saturday raising shingles, The Times of India reported.
Buvaneswari said she was alone at home with the twins and her 5-year-old daughter, while her husband, Raja, 29, a house painter, was going to work, according to the report.
He claimed that the killer monkeys stole his babies while he was in the outside toilet.
The mother said she ran back to the house when she heard screams from the animals and was surprised to find the missing babies. She ran outside again when she heard one of her babies cry and saw one of the monkeys holding the child.
Neighbors chased the monkey and rescued the girl, but the other boy was found floating dead in a ditch, The Times of India reported.
“Once we got the information about the incident, we rushed to the scene and looked for the second baby. Finally, we located the baby in the ditch,” Police Inspector S. Chandramohan told the newsroom.
“We sent the body to the Government College of Medicine Hospital for its post mortem,” he added.
However, M. Ilayaraja, the district forestry agent, described the incident as “rarer and rarer” and said the mother’s story is being investigated.
“It is very difficult for the animal to remove the tiles to get in and out of the same hole,” the official said.
“Also, according to the doctor’s statement, the infant who is under observation, as well as the baby who died, had no marks of having been grabbed by the animal in the body,” Ilayaraja continued.
“Ever since they were children, when animals like monkeys lift them, their joints can become dislocated. There are no bruises or scratches or dislocations of the joints. However, we cannot reach any conclusions. ”
But this is not the first time reports have surfaced about monkeys attacking babies in India.
Two years ago, a monkey snatched a 16-day-old boy from the village of Talabasta. The boy was later found dead at the bottom of a well, Sun reported from the UK.