Video of smoking orantugan lands zoo in hot water, again

March 7, 2018

A Bornean orangutan named Ozon is seen smoking a cigarette in its enclosure at the Bandung Zoo, about 80 miles southeast of Jakarta, Indonesia, in a screengrab from video posted on Facebook by the Indonesian Animal Welfare Society.

Facebook/Indonesian Animal Welfare Society

JAKARTA, Indonesia — An Indonesian zoo infamous for mistreatment of animals is being slammed again by activists after a video emerged of one of its orangutans smoking. Activist Marison Guciano said Wednesday the smoking great ape is further evidence of a lack of supervision and education at Bandung Zoo, about 75 miles southwest of the capital, Jakarta.

In the video shot Sunday, a young man flicks his half-smoked cigarette into the primate’s enclosure. It’s picked up by the reddish-brown primate, who expertly puffs on it 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.”

This orang utan at Bandung Zoo is given a cigarette by ignorant visitors. 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. Indonesia desparately needs animal welfare standards in its zoos. Video footage captured on March 4th, 2018 —————— Orang utan di Kebun Binatang Bandung ini diberi rokok oleh pengunjung yang bodoh. Pengunjung tidak tahu bagaimana cara menangani hewan, namun kurangnya pengawasan oleh pengelola kebun binatang adalah juga sebuah persoalan, dan merupakan salah satu isu yang harus diatasi. Indonesia saat ini membutuhkan standar kesejahteraan hewan di kebun binatangnya. Rekaman video diambil pada 4 Maret 2018 Maëva Poulet Ake Prihantari Elizabeth Claire Alberts Jay Akbar Panut Hadisiswoyo Ian Singleton David Neale Lola Webber Beau Wattana Femke Monita Bayu Wirayudha Jamie Bouhuys Ardiles Rante Ichwan Susanto Tribunnews.com Detik.com Muhamad Agil Aliansyah Daily Mail Daily Mirror Metro TV Pikiran Rakyat Cak Imam Suwandi The Independent Reuters BBC News kumparan Gary L Shapiro Icym Annette Gartland Leif Cocks Simon Garth Purser Edwin Wiek The Dodo Dodo Impact South China Morning Post

Posted by Marison Guciano on Monday, March 5, 2018

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.

Substandard conditions are common at Indonesian zoos and Guciano blamed the government for being slow in establishing animal welfare standards.