Outrage as Russian boxer gives endangered orangutan vape

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A Russian boxer filmed herself giving a vape to an endangered orangutan at a safari park, prompting the bizarre clip to go viral.

The primate can be seen inhaling several times in the shocking footage and has been displaying “disturbing” behaviour since the incident.

Per the Russian outlet Zamin.uz, Anastasia Luchkina, 24, who recently turned pro, faces a fine and a ban from Taigan Park.

The orangutan, named Dana, is the only one of its kind in Crimea and it’s reported that the animal hasn’t responded well to the e-cigarette.

One fear is that Dana swallowed one of the vape cartridges, which contains 2.5-3 ml of nicotine liquid.

Since being given the vape by the boxer over the weekend, the orangutan has lost appetite and won’t interact with visitors to the zoo.

The animal is undergoing tests. It is endangered and in the ‘Red Book’ of threatened species.

The boxer’s coach, Vladimir Akatov, provided a brief comment to Russian journalists, saying “I didn’t know Anastasia was a smoker. She is currently on holiday.”

He added: “We will definitely discuss this matter when she returns.”

Dana has lived in the Crimean zoo since 2018. The incident caused outrage on social media.

“I hope that poor orangutan didn’t get a disease from that,” one commenter wrote.

Another commenter suggested the orangutan to be set free and the boxer put in the cage instead.

“The poor ape swallowed the vape pot, that’s gonna be extremely stressful if not deadly for the poor orangutan,” another said.

Among the safari park’s rules is that “teasing and frightening animals” is strictly prohibited, as is throwing objects into the enclosures.

It’s not yet known if the boxer will be punished.

Luchkina boxer has only fought once as a professional, losing to Indian fighter Vinaskshi by unanimous decision.

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