Orangutan smokes cigarette thrown by visitor at zoo

JAKARTA: A video of an orangutan at zoo smoking a cigarette is going viral and drawing criticism on the zoo administration.

The video, posted to Facebook by animal rights activist Marison Guaciano, shows a visitor to the Bandung Zoo throw a lit cigarette into the orangutan enclosure, where one of the animals picks it up and starts to puff.

“Visitors do not know how to deal with animals, but the lack of supervision by zoo management is equally lacking, and is one of the issues which must be addressed,” Guaciano said. “Indonesia desperately needs animal welfare standards in its zoos.”

Guaciano, a prominent animal rights activist in Indonesia and director of the Scorpion Wildlife Trade Monitoring Group, said the zoo is fraught with issues.

“I know this orangutan’s name, it is Ozon. I am very sad and angry to see the visitor throw a cigarette into the orangutan enclosure,” he told website Gulf Today.

“This visitor is clearly ignorant. But, really, I blame the management of Bandung zoo; it does not take sufficient care of the animals or care about their quality of life, or how visitors interact with them.”