‘Alexa, bark like a dog’: How quick-thinking UP teen saved toddler from monkey attack

Nikita, 13, foiled a monkey attack with help from Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa

A 13-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh is earning plaudits for foiling a monkey attack by thinking on her feet. Nikita was visiting her sister’s place when monkeys entered the double-storey house in UP’s Basti and wreaked havoc inside. Displaying remarkable presence of mind, 13-year-old Nikita asked Amazon Alexa to bark like a dog, which scared the monkeys away.

According to a report in Times of India, Nikita was playing with her 15-month-old niece in the bedroom when the family realised that monkeys had entered their house. The monkeys found a way in because resident Pankaj Ojha mistakenly left the main door of his house open while leaving in a hurry to drop off a guest.

The monkeys first vandalised the drawing room on the ground floor before climbing up to the first floor in search of food. When Nikita’s 15-month-old niece saw the monkeys vandalising the kitchen, she yelled for her mother in panic.

#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh: A girl named Nikita in Basti district saved her younger sister and herself by using the voice of the Alexa device when monkeys entered their home.

Nikita says, "A few guests visited our home and they left the gate open. Monkeys entered the kitchen and… pic.twitter.com/hldLA0wvZS

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) April 6, 2024

“A few guests visited our home and they left the gate open. Monkeys entered the kitchen and started throwing things here and there. The kid was scared and so did I but then I saw Alexa and asked it to play the sound of a dog. Because of that barking sound, the monkeys were scared and ran away,” the 13-year-old told news agency ANI.