8 Ways to Sunday

Charlie has a smoking problem. Charlie is a chimpanzee.

Zookeepers at the South African zoo where Charlie lives are trying hard to get him to quit cigarettes cold turkey, but aren’t helped by all the zoo visitors that let him bum smokes. Lately Charlie has taken to hiding his cigarettes when zoo staff come around, “like a naughty schoolboy” says one staff member. South African paper Independent Online has the story, and Tampa Bay 10 News has a great video of Charlie strutting around and puffing away.

Charlie isn’t the only smoking chimpanzee. A female named Feili, who lives in a Chinese zoo, took up smoking last year. Apparently she was frustrated because her male partner couldn’t satisfy her sexual needs. While it’s unclear from this FOX News article whether zoo officials could keep patrons from contributing to Feili’s bad habit, someone is quoted saying that she gets desperate enough to scrape up discarded butts from in front of her cage with a stick.

Poor chimps. I’m trying to quit, myself, and I know just how they feel.