Hong Kong - A 46-year-old hiker was recovering in hospital Saturday after falling 20 metres into a Hong Kong reservoir while running away from a monkey trying to steal her food. The woman was hiking with friends on Friday when a large adult monkey tried to snatch a bag of nuts she was carrying, according to a spokesman for the emergency services team who rescued her.
She ran away and tumbled down a steep bank before ending up in the reservoir. The woman was taken to hospital with injuries to her head, arms and legs.
The woman and her friends had been hiking in Shing Mun Country Park in Hong Kong's rural New Territories when the monkey, part of a group of grey macaque monkeys, began pestering them.
Outside its high-rise heart, rural Hong Kong is home to an estimated 2,100 monkeys whose numbers have risen sharply in recent years partly because of hikers feeding them in parks.
In September, a 25-year-old woman was taken to hospital after being mugged by a monkey for a box of egg tarts as she got off a bus in another park in Hong Kong.
