Smoking orangutan forced to kick the habit
Officials at the Taru Jurug zoo said that they plan to move Tori away from visitors who throw their lit butts into her pen.
The chain-smoking Indonesian orangutan, Tori, is being forced to quit the deadly habit.
Officials at the Taru Jurug zoo in central Java said that they plan to move Tori away from visitors who have been throwing her lit cigarettes to finish.
The 15-year-old Tori is said to have learned smoking from mimicking zoo-goers, said the Associated Press.
"It is very common in Indonesian zoos for people to throw cigarettes or food [at animals] even though there are signs to not feed or give cigarettes," Hardi Baktiantoro for the Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP), reported the Guardian.
"It happens all the time. [In Tori's case], people will throw cigarettes in, watch her smoke, start laughing and take pictures."
Tori, who, has been a smoker for 10 years, is said to get irritable and throw things when she has not had her nicotine fix.
The Guardian reported that her partner, a non-smoker, has tried to stamp out the cigarettes that visitors throw into the pen but no to avail.