Monkey hunters accidentally tranquilize woman, knocking her out for hour

They missed the target by a few million years of evolution.

A monkey hunting mission backfired spectacularly after a bumbling gunman accidentally shot a woman with a tranquilizer dart — knocking her out for an hour.

The comedy of errors was set in motion after reports surfaced of a Japanese macaque — also known as a snow monkey — lurking near Fujikawa Station in Fuji City, Shizuoka Prefecture, SoraNews24 reported. In response, the city hall dispatched three municipal employees and one simian-hunting specialist equipped with tranquilizer rifles to apprehend the rogue ape.

Unfortunately, their monkey hunting mission turned catastrophic after one of the gunmen accidentally shot a woman they were interviewing about the fugitive primate.

Reports state that the hunters were taping their rifles to avoid air escaping, whereupon one of the bozos accidentally discharged their weapon. As a result, the hapless woman was struck in the arm with a dart — which was reportedly packed with enough sedative to subdue a 33-pound money — putting her out like a light.

Following the ludicrous misfire, the victim was rushed to the hospital, where she awoke an hour later, Sora reported. However, it took another full hour before the patient was lucid enough to speak coherently.

The Fuji government has since apologized to the woman and has pledged an investigation and policy review to avoid another such disaster.

Unfortunately — albeit perhaps unsurprisingly — the problem macaque remains at large.

Pouring such resources into subduing a single monkey might seem like overkill. However, these supposedly majestic Yeti-like creatures — renowned worldwide for their love of hot tubbing — have become a scourge in Japan of late.

This summer, Yamaguchi city was forced to hire a special unit after a troop of these hairy hellions attacked nearly 60 people.

Some of the savage simians even snuck into people’s homes and tried to snatch babies.