[zinchenko]

Shirley the ape was seized from Johor zoo in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, last week by government authorities because she was living in poor conditions.

She has been relocated to Melaka zoo in a neighbouring state where she has been quarantined. She is expected to be moved on to a wildlife centre on Borneo island soon.

Melaka Zoo director Ahmad Azhar Mohammed said that Shirley will no longer be allowed to smoke because 'smoking is not normal behaviour for orangutans'.

'I would say she is not addicted … but she might have formed a habit after mimicking human beings who were smoking around her,' Ahmad said.

So far the adult ape, believed to be around 20 years old, is showing no withdrawal symptoms and is displaying a regular appetite for food and no obvious signs of depression or illness, he said.

Nature Alert, a British-based activist group, wrote to Malaysian officials about Shirley earlier this year, saying conservationists who visited the state-run Johor zoo were worried about her health and the easy access to cigarettes.

Investigators had also previously voiced concern because Shirley and her fellow orangutan, Abu, had been given plastic bin liners to play with.

Sean Whyte, Chief Executive of Nature Alert, said: 'Providing orangutans with enough enrichment on a daily basis is neither difficult or costly.'

'What kind of educational or conservation message does watching orangutans surrounded with black bags give to visitors, especially children?

'Are children going to grow up thinking orangutans move around the forests carrying black plastic bags to keep the rain off them?

'One is left to wonder if this is this what the Johor Zoo management believe.'

Authorities are also believed to have recently seized a tiger and a baby elephant from the Johor zoo.

Orangutans, which are native to rainforests in Borneo and Indonesia's Sumatra island, can live up to about 60 years in captivity.

[kellyhound]

that's fucked up.

<iframe width="640" height="510" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dIdpZXC8840?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[253bumper]

haha thats awsome n fucked up at the same time

[Faline]

[Illusion]

[**butterflylove**]

[Sharon]

That's classic!

[johnleeknoefler]

Fucking Assholes. Orangatangs have rights too. If she wants to smoke then give her a carton and a lighter and let her do as she pleases. I used to give tobacco to a minature goat. He loved it and would go nuts begging for a chew of beechnut or skoals. He once ate a whole can of skoal and then danced for 15 minutes later he was so happy. I quite tobacco but its a fun rush.

[LOI91]

From one dump to the next. Both Johor and Melaka are tourist towns and both are in bad shape. I see nothing good coming from this.