A Texas woman identified as Lucy Rae climbed into a spider monkey exhibit to hand-feed the monkeys Hot Cheetos.
Over the weekend, Rae was caught on camera jumping over a barrier at the El Paso Zoo and entering its spider monkey exhibit. Her goal was to hand-feed the monkeys Hot Cheetos, and she did just that — fed two of the monkeys, Libby and Sunday.
The zoo’s director, Joe Montisano, called the situation “stupid and lucky.” The woman and the animals were reportedly not harmed.
In the video footage, the woman can be seen standing by a waterfall in the exhibit – while she throws Hot Cheetos towards the animals. “These are primates we’re talking about. They could do some substantial damage to you,” zookeeper Mason Kleist told ABC7. “They may be small monkeys, but they can take you to the ground if they wanted to,” he added.
Not only did the woman put herself at risk, but also the livelihoods of the monkeys. Zookeepers say the woman could have exposed them to COVID-19, and the food she fed them is made for the human stomach and could have potentially caused the animals to endure bowel disruptions, among other issues.
“Anything that we have they could get as well, so COVID is no different,” Kleist told ABC 7. “We took the necessary steps to prevent them from getting that, so for someone to just go in there and give them food from their hands could just ruin that.” The zookeepers said the woman’s interaction with the animals ruins years of work the specialists have put toward building bonds with the animals.
“It takes years to build trust with these animals, and for someone to come in there for five minutes for a video on Instagram or whatever just ruins years of work,” he said. “It’s going to take a long time to get them back to where they were,” added Kleist.
Rae has since been fired from her job as a litigation assistant.
