Smoking Orangutan Video Puts Heat On Indonesian Zoo

In Indonesia, a zoo famous for mistreatment of animals is being attacked again by activists after a clip emerged of one of its orangutans smoking.

Activist Marison Guciano said on Wednesday the smoking great ape is further evidence of a lack of supervision and education at Bandung Zoo, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) southwest of the capital, Jakarta.

In the clip, an orangutan picks a half-smoked cigarette that a young male throws into the pen. the monkey then smokes the cigarette expertly to laughter from the crowd.

Guciano said the man committed a crime but the privately owned zoo is mainly responsible because of its “ignorance of supervision and education for visitors.”

The zoo has repeatedly made headlines for starving and sick animals. It was temporarily closed in 2016 after a Sumatran elephant that died was found to have bruises on its body.

A change.org petition calling for Bandung Zoo to be closed has nearly 1 million signatures. Visitors who review the zoo on TripAdvisor describe a dirty facility and sadness and anger at seeing the condition of the animals.

Zoo spokesman Sulhan Syafi’I said “we very much regret that such a thing happened” and the incident was reported to police.

Signs at the zoo warn visitors to not feed animals or give them cigarettes, he said.