A monkey believed to have survived for weeks on a diet of chocolate was reportedly Tasered by police after it burst into a primary school and behaved “aggressively” towards children.
Dozens of residents in the Castellane area of Marseille contacted the authorities to report sightings of the primate – thought to have been abandoned after being kept illegally.
La Provence newspaper reported the monkey entered a primary school where “it caused bedlam and scratched some of the children.”
English language newspaper The Local quoted a police spokesman as saying: “We were given the location but by the time we turned up, it had disappeared. It happened every time.”
The monkey - who later made an appearance at a senior school - is believed to have been living on Kinder chocolates given to him by children.
“Malnutrition and suspected abuse from some children may have contributed to the monkey’s aggressive behaviour,” a source told UPI.
The website adds the monkey was not seriously injured and is in the care of animal protection authorities, who will deliver him to a zoo following a quarantine period.