Zoo’s smoking orangutan riles animal activists in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia –  An Indonesian zoo infamous for mistreatment of animals is being slammed again by animal rights activists after a video emerged of one of its orangutans smoking.

Activist Marison Guciano said the video shot Sunday at Bandung Zoo is more evidence of a lack of supervision and education at the zoo.

In the video, a young man flicks his half-smoked cigarette into the primate’s enclosure. It’s picked up by the reddish-brown great ape, who expertly puffs on it to laughter from the crowd.

The zoo has repeatedly made headlines for starving and sick animals. A change.org petition calling for Bandung Zoo to be closed has nearly 1 million signatures.

Zoo spokesman Sulhan Syafi’I said it “very much” regrets the incident and reported it to police.