A Brazilian bar owner had no option but to call the fire brigade when a monkey got drunk and began chasing after men while armed with a large kitchen knife earlier this month.

The capuchin monkey had been drinking the dregs of glasses of cachaça in a bar in Paraiba in the country's northeast, when it became aggressive.

The monkey then grabbed a large kitchen knife and began chasing after men, but not women, in the bar.

"It was a bar staff oversight that ended with the monkey drinking some rum and taking the knife," fire department Lt Col Saul Laurentino told aRede .

Bemused locals managed to film the monkey scratching the roof tiles with the hefty knife before it scampered off.

After several attempts the monkey was captured by the fire brigade and released into an environmental reserve.

But last Thursday the monkey had to be caught again after it began frightening residents of nearby houses.