The recent drought and the Al-Hada road expansion works are among the reasons posited for an upsurge in attacks by baboons on local residents and visitors in the mountain region of Taif. Tourists and locals are increasingly coming under attack from the hairy beasts, where before they restricted their activities to occasional scavenging at farmsteads and houses, according to a report in Al-Madina newspaper. “We parked the car and had only walked about 500 meters,” says Ali Al-Ghamdi, who took his family out for a picnic, “when lots of baboons appeared and surrounded us, and even tried to grab my four-year-old. I gathered everyone together and we stuck close until we made it back to the car.” “I couldn't find any sticks or stones to defend us with, and I swear they would have killed us if we hadn't got back to the car,” Ali added. “I hope the authorities do something about this soon.” Abdullah Al-Otaibi had a similar experience. “A group of baboons attacked me and my family while we were having lunch. We had to abandon our meal and flee for our lives,” he said. Mansour Al-Ghamdi, an environmental researcher at King Abdulaziz University, told Al-Madina that the increased frequency of stories of families being attacked indicated a worsening situation. “We need to address the reasons behind the baboons' recent behavior,” Al-Ghamdi said. “The animals now depend on humans for their food, as they've got used to tourists feeding them. Now, with the drought and the closing of Al-Hada Road, the baboons are finding it harder to come by food, and so they are attacking humans, particularly those who lay out a nice spread right in front of them.”
