A group of British tourists are being accused of animal cruelty after sharing a video on social media showing them feeding Monster Energy drinksand McDonald’s to an orangutan while they drive the endangered creature around the streets of Dubai in a sports car.
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The video at one point shows the men fist-bumping the animal and erupting in a fit of laughter. That definitely didn’t go down well online. Viewers of the video posted cutting comments about the group’s reckless behaviour and treatment of the wild animal.
The men, belived to be from Birmingham, shared the video over Instagram and Twitter. And, while it may seem like a scene from the Hangover, the video was met with some harsh backlash from animal rights activists. One commenter stated:
He gone bite all they fingers off the moment they go to sleep. Leave these animals alone!
Another chimed in:
It's not gonna be laughs when that orangutan starts to feel threatened or scared and starts ripping those dudes' faces off and causes them all to crash and die.
A third stated:
I don't even like the peacocks at the aquarium, and you're talking about an orangutan in the back seat?! Get me the f*** out this car.
he’s here for a good time not a long time 🤟🦧 pic.twitter.com/BDYPvDQbo1
— orange chimp (@orangechimps) September 28, 2020
The man who filmed the videos was seen earlier at Heathrow Airport in the first-class lounge before checking in at the fancy five star Five Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. However, it is unsure where the group of guys managed to get the orangutan or what condition it was kept in...Judging by the lack of appropriate food and drink we can safely say that it probably wasn’t good.
Back in 2017, the UAE outlawed the ownership of exotic animals or animals classed as wild or domesticated and dangerous.
However, that doesn’t mean some animals aren’t trafficked in or owned illegally. In fact, the ownership of exotic animals often represented as a status symbol for the wealthy. And, it isn’t just the UAE that has a bit of an exotic animal problem, the UK itself has had to initiate some rules in the past over the ownership of wild animals also.
Roughly 4,800 exotic animals are kept under a license in Great Britain including snakes, primates and at least 50 big cats, but it is estimated that there are 10 times as many wild creatures that have been smuggled in under the nose of the law.
