Woman Banned From Zoo For Developing ‘Unhealthy’ Relationship With Chimp

A Belgian woman has been banned from her local zoo after developing what zookeepers describe as an “unhealthy” relationship with one of its chimpanzees. Adie Timmermans visits Chita, an elderly male chimp, every week at his enclosure at Antwerp Zoo and has been doing so for years. The pair seem fond of each other, blowing kisses and waving through a glass window every time she’s there. However, zoo employees have now told her that Chita needs to focus on spending time with other animals and she needs to stop coming, much to Adie’s devastation.

1. Adie says she hasn’t “got anything else.” Hearing that she’s been barred from visiting Chita has broken Adie’s heart. As she told local news outlet ATV: “The problem is I’m having an affair I’d say with a chimpanzee. I love that animal and he loves me. I haven’t got anything else. Why do they want to take that away?”
2. The four-year relationship had to come to an end. Zoo officials say Chita has been shunned by other chimps because of his constant socialization with Adie and will be outcast entirely if he doesn’t start interacting with his own kind more. “They actually leave [Chita] to the side,” curator Sarah Lafaut said. “They are social animals. They seek social contact and to play with each other.”
3. Chita’s health could be in danger if he doesn’t spend more time with other chimps. Lafaut continued: “If they are continuously busy with visitors then for the duration when those visitors are gone he has nothing to do, he just sits there alone and for a social animal (that) is absolutely not ok for his wellbeing.” He even got into fights at the zoo because of this.
4. To be fair, Chita is used to humans. He used to be kept as a domestic pet but was given to the zoo when his owners felt he was too big to keep. Because of this, he’s struggled enough to blend in with the other chimps.
5. Adie believes Chita needs her. “Chita is 38 and has been used to people from an early age,” she said as per The Daily Mirror. “In average, chimpanzees live to about 40 so his behavior isn’t going to change now, is it?”