It’s one thing for people to be animal lovers. But when a woman claimed to be in an affair with a chimpanzee, everyone was taken aback. An Antwerp Zoo has barred a Belgian woman after officials discovered she had been spending too much time with a particular chimpanzee. The woman claimed she spent so much time with the chimpanzee because she was having an “affair” with him.
Adie Timmermans began going to the zoo once a week and became friends with Chita, a 38-year-old chimpanzee. They used to communicate by waving and blowing kisses at each other from opposite sides of the glass enclosure. Her visits lasted four years before the zoo officials decided that something had to be done about their budding connection.
“I love that animal and he loves me. I haven’t got anything else. Why do they want to take that away,” Timmermans said. “We’re having an affair, I’ll just say.”
The zoo feels, however, that Chita’s “love affair” was proving to be harmful to her because it was preventing her from building a relationship with the other chimps.
“When Chita is constantly busy with visitors, the other monkeys ignore him and don’t consider him part of the group, even though that is important. He then sits on his own outside of visiting hours,” the zoo said.
The chimpanzee’s lover, however, believes the zoo is being unfair. She disputed, “other dozens of visitors are allowed to make contact. Then why not me?”