Kind locals are feeding thousands of monkeys that have been going hungry due to a drop in tourists during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The primates would normally survive on food fed to them from tourists. However, visitor numbers have plummeted after non-residents were banned from entering the country two months ago amid coronavirus restrictions.

Locals are now helping the monkeys. Footage from May 10 shows thousand monkeys in Phang Nga, southern Thailand being fed tasty portions of boiled rice soaked in coconut milk.

Wildlife lover Kullida Boonsri said she would help the animals as much as she could afford to but pleaded with the government to take care of the wild primates.

She said: "The monkeys are usually happy because they're fed fruits by the tourists but since the tourists have gone, they were left starving.

"My friend and I fed them by mixing coconut residue mixed them with rice, that has been donated by other residents.

"However, the supplies to feed the monkeys are running low because there are so many of them to feed.

"We think the government should take action to stop the monkeys from starving.''