A hungry wild monkey sparked chaos after raiding a meatball factory.

The unruly primate was seen climbing inside the building by owner Talek Nakwan, 56, in Nakhon Si Thammarat, southern Thailand last Saturday (07/02) morning.

It then ran around the area, becoming aggressive to local children who feared they could be attacked by the creature.

Talek contacted the local rescue team to catch the monkey but it was agile and evaded them.

Several volunteers then chased it away into the nearby woodland.

The factory owner said the monkey came out of the nearby forest and he was worried it could have been carrying diseases.

He said: "I saw the monkey running around and worried that the children might have been hurt and perhaps infected by some dangerous disease."

Earlier this week, hundreds of wild monkeys were seen fighting for a piece of food in Lopburi province. They have become increasingly hungry due to the coronavirus keeping away tourists who would normally feed them.