A baby stolen by a monkey while sleeping near its mother was found dead in a well near the house it was taken from in India.
Local media reported a simian monkey took the infant Saturday at around 6 a.m. while its mother was doing chores outside, The Sun reported.
The mother immediately cried for help when the baby was taken but the monkey ran out of her view with the child, Newsweek reported. A relative found the 16-day-old baby in the well a short time later.
"We have registered a case of unnatural death and are getting an autopsy done," police officer PC Pradhan said, Newsweek reported. "There are bruises on the child’s left hand. The baby might have slipped from the clutches of the monkey and died after falling into the well."
Police are looking for the monkey, which is still at large.
"We hope to catch the monkey within a week," Pradhan told the BBC. "While monkeys attacking humans or entering houses in search of food are fairly common, this is the first case in which one has run away with a baby."
Relatives and villagers mounted demonstrations outside the Damapada Forest Range office for their failure to adequately contain the growing primate population, according to Economic Times.
They claim that in addition to being a hazard to the people, the monkeys freely roam village streets and steal food.
Twitter users were horrified by the story.
Some who thought the story and its circumstances funny were roundly scolded by another Twitter user.
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