Police in Japan are hunting for a wild monkey that has attacked 10 people, including a baby and two four-year-old girls, in the space of two weeks.

The first attacks took place on 8 July in the Ogori district of Yamaguchi prefecture in the south-west of the country.

The local mayor’s office has distributed flyers warning people to be on the lookout as the search for the animal continues.

Police are said to be on high alert and have set traps for the monkey as they warned people not to leave their windows open.

In the most serious attack, the primate entered a family home and badly scratched a baby.

The girl’s mother told local media: “I was vacuuming when I heard my child crying, so I turned around and saw the monkey had grabbed her by the legs while she was playing on the floor.

“It looked like it was trying to drag her outside.”

It came before the monkey opened the screen door of a first-floor apartment last weekend and scratched the leg of a four-year-old girl, according to the Kyodo news agency.

The primate, said to be between 40cm to 50cm in height, then attacked other people nearby, the agency added.

The monkey also invaded a local kindergarten classroom and scratched another four-year-old girl, according to reports.

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Monkeys are not the only wild animals that have forced people in Japan to be more wary.

There have been multiple bear sightings and attacks across the country in recent years and a smaller number involving wild boars.

The spate of bear sightings and attacks have been attributed to a shortage of acorns in their natural habitat – which is forcing them to wander into populated areas to find food.

The depopulation of rural areas and the degradation of abandoned farmland that once formed a natural boundary between the bears’ habitat and populated areas is also said to have been a factor.

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