Alcoholic Russian Chimp Off to Rehab
EmailABC's Alexander Marquardt reports from Moscow:
They tried to make him go to rehab…and, well, he didn’t really have a choice.
A chimpanzee named Zhora is leaving his zoo in the Russian city of Rostov and heading to a rehab center to cure his addictions to alcohol and cigarettes.
Zoo officials told the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda that the chimp would beg visitors for booze and cigarettes and they would happily oblige.
“We kept asking visitors not to feed him, but it was pointless,” said the deputy head of the zoo. “Zhora would sit behind three rows of fence, but the visitors still somehow managed to throw him bottles over the top.”
"People laugh when they see an animal drinking and smoking, but vicious habits damage health, and many do not understand this."
Zhora was once part of a circus but grew aggressive, the report says, so he was handed over to the zoo where he fathered several babies.
He is due at the rehab center in Kazan, 500 miles east of Moscow, early this month.
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What? People can bring alcohol into Russian zoos? How crazy is that?
The chimp was abused. What a bunch of sick people.
Posted by: ddg | March 1, 2010, 3:14 pm 3:14 pm
I think they made a mistake—-this sounds like Pelosi !!
Posted by: countrygirl_74 | March 1, 2010, 3:29 pm 3:29 pm
What wrong with a little booze and cigarettes when you are in a cage 24/7
for the rest of your life .To bad they did not have pot…that might have been more fun for the poor chimp.
I was just in the jungle of Costa Rica observing monkeys ….wonderful freedom and social life they have .
FREE ALL CAGE MONKEYS
Posted by: henry | March 1, 2010, 3:43 pm 3:43 pm
Free booze,woman, and cigs I’m in when do I report to my cage!
Posted by: Big pappa no mess | March 1, 2010, 3:45 pm 3:45 pm
Why don’t people understand different between animals and human being? It is like alllowing under age to have ciggarettes, and alcohol. This is an animal abuse. What is wrong with Russian policies toward animals. They have now put this amazing chimp’s health in jeopardy. Shame on the zoo keepers; they should have know better in the first place.
Nhianydit, NH.
Posted by: Nhianydit | March 1, 2010, 5:06 pm 5:06 pm
where Nancy P belongs. in fact It looks like a chip tore her face, and a rookie plastic surgeon put it back
Posted by: skeptic | March 1, 2010, 9:00 pm 9:00 pm
actually looks and sounds more like George Bush
Posted by: lisab | March 1, 2010, 11:55 pm 11:55 pm
Poor Chimp. Those people are so bad!
Posted by: davalias | March 2, 2010, 12:21 am 12:21 am
Kinda sad.
Posted by: Erlinda | March 2, 2010, 12:36 am 12:36 am
The past decade has been a roller-coaster ride for the Russian economy. From the depths of its 1998 financial crisis, which tested the proverbial patience of the Russian people, to the credit-fed boom of 2007, to the seeming meltdown of the economy just a year ago, to its still seemingly unbelievable rebound as we start the new year, one learns to expect the unexpected when it comes to Russia. This zigzag pattern was not a spontaneous occurrence, nor does it have to continue.
The key has been, and will continue to be, government policy. And for all the criticism that can be heaped on the authorities who could have done more or could have acted sooner, they do deserve some credit for reasonably good economic management. It didn’t have to turn out as well as it has.
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In the run-up to the crisis, Russia, relative to spendthrift countries such as Spain, Ireland or Ukraine, was running huge budget surpluses – thus withdrawing stimulus that would have otherwise amplified the private sector’s euphoria with a veritable explosion of aggregate demand. It also saved the oil windfall for the most part so that it had a comfortable cushion to soften the blow when the global crisis erupted in late 2008.
Posted by: Posi Hoss | March 2, 2010, 3:34 am 3:34 am
“He is due at the rehab center in Kazan, 500 miles east of Moscow” – ABC News
Is that the same Rehab center Tiger Woods is at?
Posted by: Noz | March 2, 2010, 8:31 am 8:31 am
I could not believe this story when I read it. So hilarious and strange at the same time. I guess I hope the chimp gets cured at rehab.
Posted by: anthony | March 3, 2010, 2:06 pm 2:06 pm