Tipsy Monkeys ~ Petrol and Coffee, the Villain !!

Some like the smell of ‘petrol’ ~ to some it could be nauseating.  Petrol (Gasoline in USA) is a transparent, petroleum-derived liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. The price of petrol always affects the market, changes the prices and threatens Governments too.  With Brent crude prices hovering around the $64 a barrel mark, the highest in more than two-and-a-half years, analysts and economists have sat up and took note.  Asia’s emerging markets such as India and Indonesia run large current account deficit (CAD), in which the oil bill is the biggest component.  Reports suggest that Crude oil prices above $60 a barrel is a concern for India’s domestic economy. It can potentially have a bearing all across from causing a spike in inflation, raising raw material and transportation cost. Away in UK, a  brazen trio of would-be motorcycle thieves rode off empty-handed after an off-duty police officer stopped them stealing a motorcycle. The men struck at lunchtime in the middle of a busy street in Solihull surrounded by shoppers and office workers. The gang, described as aged between 18 and 22-years-old, wore helmets and rode three abreast into the pedestrianised area next to Marks & Spencer before attempting to swipe a parked red Yamaha. The bike's alarm went off and the police officer, who was drinking coffee in a nearby Cafe Nero, raced to stop the thieves. Back home in Panipat, a  thieving monkey addicted to drinking petrol has been caught stealing fuel from motorbikes. A group of bike owners in Panipat, northern India, held a stake-out after finding their vehicles were being repeatedly drained of petrol.   They  were stunned to realize the true culprit was a monkey that was pulling fuel pipes off and sucking the tanks dry.  The reports state that the crafty monkey would wait until no one was around before ripping out a fuel pipe and taking a drink.  The animal was consuming so much petrol it was 'always high' and would even refuse gifts of bananas ~ the monkey did not pose any threats to humans otherwise.   Monkey on a high is not perhaps totally new ~ in Bangkok, an  young macaque was knocked out for 10 hours after downing a cup of coffee it stole from a tourist.  MailOnline reports that that  poor monkey suffered a caffeine overdose and had to be slowly brought around using a saline and carbon solution administered by local medics.  Locals believe  that six-month-old long tailed macaque monkey watched the tourist drinking from the cup, then copied their actions while their back was turned.  The youngster fell ill after drinking the coffee and eventually passed out, prompting witnesses to call vets who took him for treatment.  Witnesses said the six-month-old long tailed macaque fell ill after climbing down on to a tourist's motorbike where a cup of coffee was sitting inside a plastic bag hanging from the handlebars. Before anyone could stop the primate, it took the cup out and sipped from it. It soon fell ill and collapsed in the street after suffering a severe reaction to the caffeine, prompting witnesses to call in the vets. The monkey was given a mixture of carbon and saline (leaving it with black lips) to help flush the toxins from its body and woke up 10 hours later.  The monkey was later released back    to the care of its troop and assigned a warden to make sure it suffers no further ill effects.  Tourists have been warned not to leave food or drink unattended around the macaques, and to only give them fruit and vegetables to eat. Interesting ! With regards – S. Sampathkumar
9^th Nov. 2017.