It is thought to be a lost or even abandoned pet monkey or ape, but for those who have seen it, it is a mysterious phantom beggar!
A team of people, including local Police, are searching for a mysterious ape (monkey) around Paphos, a coastal town along the southern tip of Cyprus.
Search for phantom monkey beggar
Is it a mysterious ape? Someone’s lost pet monkey or the product of overactive imaginations?
Whatever it is, Cypriot authorities are searching for a stray primate reported to have tapped on windows at dinner time to beg for food near the western resort town of Paphos.
Police could not say whether they thought the animal was an ape or a monkey, but said there was no cause for alarm.
At least two sightings have been reported north of Paphos. A Russian tourist saw the beast in dense woodlands and a local woman said it appeared at her kitchen window, officials said.
Politis newspaper reported that the animal was thought to have either run away or been abandoned by its owner. Apes and monkeys are not indigenous to the east Mediterranean island and their ownership is permitted only with a licence.
“There was a team of people out this morning searching. . . but nothing was found,” a Veterinary Services official said.
Animal rights’ campaigners have complained of an upsurge in people abandoning or neglecting exotic animals.
Earlier this year a stray raccoon, a native of the Americas, caused a power outtage to more than 2000 homes after chewing through 11,000 volts of electric cable. It survived.
Related Links:
Paphos – wikipedia
Search for phantom monkey beggar
