We often see humans sharing a beautiful bond with animals around them. Remember the Mumbai man who sang to parrots at his window? Or when hoomans tied rakhis to doggos on Raksha Bandhan! However, a woman seemingly took her bond with a chimp at the zoo too far.
She has now been banned from visiting a 38-year-old male chimpanzee named Chita at a zoo in Antwerp, Belgium. The zoo authorities termed their “close relationship” unhealthy for the chimp, reports Times Now.
Adie Timmermans had been visiting Chita every week for four years. However, zoo workers maintained that their relationship made other chimps exclude Chita from their social group. When Adie visited the chimp’s enclosure, she and Chita would wave at each other and blow kisses through the glass.Â
“I love that animal and he loves me. I haven’t got anything else. Why do they want to take that away?” Adie claims the ban is unfair.
Zoo curator Sarah Lafaut shares the reasoning behind banning Adie, “When Chita is constantly surrounded by visitors, the other animals ignore him and don’t consider him part of the group. He then sits on his own outside of visiting hours. An animal that is too focused on people is less respected by its peers and we want Chita to be a chimpanzee as much as possible.”
Chita was initially kept as a pet, but later donated to the zoo where he has lived for over 30 years. The authorities say that Chita often has problems socialising with other apes and even got injured in a serious brawl with male chimps in 2008.
Even though Chita is ignored by other chimps, he does interact with humans to a great extent.