A Belgian girl has ended up banned from visiting a chimpanzee at Antwerp Zoo after the keepers deemed the 2 had been spending means an excessive amount of time collectively. The lady claimed she was having an “affair” with the animal.
The weird ‘love story’ made the headlines throughout Belgian media on Friday, after Antwerp Zoo slapped a restraining order of types on Adie Timmermans, a long-standing customer.
Over the previous 4 years, Timmermans paid weekly visits to the zoo, searching for contact with one specific animal – a 38-year-old chimpanzee known as Chita. The 2 then interacted by means of the enclosure’s glass, waving and blowing kisses at one another. The lady was devastated by the ban, telling native media in a tearful interview that each she and the animal would endure from the compelled break-up.
“I like that animal and he loves me. I haven’t obtained anything. Why do they need to take that away?” she mentioned.
We’re having an affair, I’ll simply say.
The zoo, for its half, argued that the best way too lengthy human contact – notably with Timmermans – is dangerous for the animal, because it damages Chita’s standing with different chimpanzees of the group it lives with.
“When Chita is continually busy with guests, the opposite monkeys ignore him and don’t take into account him a part of the group, regardless that that’s essential. He then sits on his personal outdoors of visiting hours,” the zoo mentioned.
Timmermans, nevertheless, believes the zoo’s transfer to be unfair, as she argued that the chimpanzee had been actively interacting not solely together with her, however different guests as nicely. “Different dozens of holiday makers are allowed to make contact. Then why not me?” she questioned.
Additionally on rt.com
The chimpanzee got here to the zoo some 30 years in the past, based on curator Sarah Lafaut. Again then, Chita was a pet who was rowdy and unmanageable, studying the chimpanzee methods solely on the zoo but retaining “curiosity in people,” Lafaut informed Radio 2 Antwerp.
Chita’s tackle the zoo’s choice to forcibly finish the connection with Timmermans was not instantly identified.
Assume your mates would have an interest? Share this story!