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Chimp takes up smoking
15/04/2005 11:34 - (SA)
Bloemfontein - Charlie, a grown male chimpanzee and a star attraction at the Bloemfontein Zoo, has picked up a bad smoking habit which officials said he learned from closely watching visitors.
"Baby chimps pick up habits by mimicking adults and we think he started mimicking smokers at his enclosure which probably led to smokers throwing him cigarettes," Daryl Barnes of Bloemfontein Zoo said on Thursday.
Barnes said although it could be funny for some visitors if Charlie were to have a smoke with them, it was bad for his health.
"He even acts like a naughty school boy by hiding the cigarette when staff approach the area," Barnes said.
Zoo officials appealed to visitors to stop offering Charlie cigarettes and help him to quit smoking.
"It's part of a problem all zoo's battle with in that people should not feed or give snacks to the animals."
Barnes said Charlie already had three bad teeth due to another bad habit he had picked up, from visitors who threw cans of soft drinks to him.
- SAPA
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South Africa
