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Woman Blasted For Climbing Into Zoo Enclosure To 'Feed Animals Cheetos'

Woman Blasted For Climbing Into Zoo Enclosure To 'Feed Animals Cheetos'

The anonymous woman has been branded 'stupid' and has subsequently lost her job for the stunt

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

This clip shows the moment a woman entered a monkey enclosure in a zoo to reportedly feed the animals Hot Cheetos:

The incident occurred at the El Paso Zoo in El Paso, Texas, and the anonymous woman can be seen close to a waterfall throwing snacks at the primates before taking a perch underneath the feature.

She then trudges back towards the camera through the water and is helped back up by someone before the video cuts off.

Now the law firm the woman worked for has come out in support of the zoo and revealed the woman has been terminated from the company.

In their statement, Lovett Law Firm wrote: "We learned this morning that the individual who was filmed trespassing in the spider monkey enclosure of the El Paso Zoo was an employee of Lovett Law Firm. She has been terminated.

"The firm has always been a strong supporter of animals and animal advocacy. We absolutely do not condone this irresponsible and reckless behavior.

"We support the El Paso Zoo and our thoughts go out to the spider monkeys, Libby and Sunday, and hope that they will recover from this very traumatic experience."

In response to the company, someone wrote: "From all of the zookeeping communities, thank you for taking this matter seriously and providing consequences to animal endangering offenses."

Instagram/@fitfamelpaso

The zoo's director, Joe Montisano dubbed the woman 'stupid and lucky' while keeper Mason Kleist told local TV station ABC 7: "These are primates we're talking about, they could do some substantial damage to you.

"They may be small monkey's but they can take you to the ground if they wanted to."

He went on to add: "Anything that we have they could get as well so Covid is no different.

"We took the necessary steps to prevent them from getting that, so for someone to just go in there and give them food from their hands could just ruin that."

The monkeys have a specialised diet and, according to Kleist, feeding them could cause stomach problems and bowel disruptions.

Responding to the original video which was posted on Instagram, one person wrote: "Please tell me she got arrested."

Another added: "Not only could she have possibly poisoned the wildlife but she also put them in danger of being euthanized, if they decided to attack her imagine what would've happened."

Featured Image Credit: Instagram/fitfamelpaso

Topics: News, Animals