Orangutans are among the closest genetic relatives to humans in the animal kingdom. Unfortunately, it appears that they can pick up some of our nasty habits too.
A video posted on Facebook yesterday has created an animal welfare controversy as it shows an orangutan at the infamous Bandung Zoo smoking a cigarette that a visitor had tossed into its enclosure (that’s after said visitor smoked the cigarette right in front of a little girl, who appears to be his daughter).
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the video is how the male orangutan seems to be very comfortable smoking the cigarette, indicating that this incident was not a one-off (or that he’s an excellent mimic).
Indonesian Animal Welfare Society founder Marison Guciano, who originally uploaded the video, said that it was taken by a colleague during a visit to the zoo on March 4.
“It’s possible that this has happened many times before because of the zoo management’s lack of ability to supervise its animals. But orangutans are smart creatures. It could be that he mimicked the many smoking visitors who visit his enclosure,” Marison told Coconuts.
Despite the viral video, Marison believes that evacuating the orangutan from the zoo could end up harming the ape.
“This orangutan is already an adult and it would be difficult to rehabilitate him in the wild. The most important thing is to improve the quality of life for orangutans at the zoo,” he said.
“It must be noted that the needs for this animal is not just food. They must also be guaranteed to be given a place to live that closely resembles their natural habitat. Instead, many animals in zoos live in cages that look like prison.”
After the video went viral, the Bandung Zoo said they are going to tighten supervision of their facilities, though conceded they might be understaffed as they only have 32 caretakers for 800 animals.
“We have limited keepers, they are already working to the max. They also have other jobs, like feeding and cleaning enclosures. Sometimes naughty visitors take advantage when there are no keepers,” said Bandung Zoo Spokesperson Sulhan Safi’i, as quoted by Kompas today.
“It’s a waste of time [to look for the man who tossed the cigarette]. There are more important jobs to do. Through the media we urge people to care for the zoo together. The Bandung Zoo is a national asset because many of the animals in it are endangered and rare.”
The Bandung Zoo, a private institution, has long been accused of mistreating its animals due a severe lack of funds and staff. In 2016, a Sumatran elephant kept in the zoo died after a long battle with an unknown disease. Conservationists blamed the zoo for not having a permanent vet in its employ at the time.
Under Indonesian law, animal abuse is punishable by up to three months in prison along with a minuscule fine of IDR4,500 (US$0.30), which would have been plenty in the colonial days when the law was introduced but would only barely get you a bottle of water these days. There have been numerous attempts by activists to introduce harsher punishments against animal abuse (such as this Change.org online petition from five years ago), but animal welfare is evidently not high on the list of priorities for Indonesian lawmakers.
