Zoo In Indonesia Criticised For This Video Of Smoking Orangutan

A video has emerged of an orangutan at a zoo in Indonesia smoking a cigarette. The video has sparked a wave of criticism of the zoo which is infamous for its animal welfare troubles. The video shows a young man flicking his half-smoked cigarette into the orangutan’s enclosure. The primate picks up the cigarette and proceeds to expertly puff on it drawing laughter from crowd.

No education or supervision

Activists say the smoking orangutan is yet another example of the general lack of education and supervision at Bandung Zoo which is located about 120 kilometres South of the Indonesia’s capital Jakarta. The man who flicked his cigarette into the enclosure committed a crime, however the privately-owned zoo is mainly responsible because it fails to supervise or educate its visitors.

History of poor treatment

The zoo has a history of poor treatment of animals including starving them and failure to provide treatment for sick animals. In 2016 the zoo was forced to temporarily shut down after a Sumatran elephant that had died there was later found to have bruises on its body. A petition has been established on change.org calling for the closure of Bandung Zoo and so far, nearly a million people have signed it.

The government has failed

Visitors that have reviewed the zoo on TripAdvisor have described its as basically being a dirty facility and expressed both anger and sadness at seeing the conditions the animals are kept in. A spokesperson for the zoo says it regrets that something like this happened and has reported the incident to the police. The spokesperson added there are signs posted warning visitors not feed the animals or give them cigarettes. In Indonesia, many zoos keep animals in substandard conditions and there seems to be very little respect for wildlife. Activists blame the government for failing to quickly establish animal welfare standards.