A Texas woman was filmed trying to feed spider monkeys after climbing into an exhibit at the El Paso Zoo.
The video shows the unidentified woman sitting on a rock appearing to throw food at two monkeys. The smiling woman later climbs out of the exhibit.
After footage surfaced on social media, the woman’s law firm released a statement saying that she had been fired.
“We learned this morning that the individual who was filmed trespassing in the spider monkey enclosure of the El Paso Zoo was an employee of Lovett Law Firm,” the company said Monday. “She has been terminated.”
The firm, which did not name the woman, called her behavior “irresponsible and reckless.”
“We support the El Paso Zoo and our thoughts go out to the spider monkeys, Libby and Sunday, and hope that they will recover from this very traumatic experience,” the statement continued.
The El Paso Zoo and police department did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.
Zoo director Joe Montisano told the El Paso Times that they cannot let the woman’s dangerous stunt go unpunished and they plan on pressing charges against her.
“This young lady decided to hop a fence, climb through some bushes, drop down into a four-feet deep moat, walk across the moat and then try to feed the spider monkeys,” he said. “It was stupid.”
Montisano said the woman is lucky the situation ended the way it did.
“These are primates. They are strong; they have canine teeth. They can scratch. We don’t interact with them on the daily,” he told the newspaper. “And we don’t interact with them without a barrier in between us.”
Montisano said that because of the woman’s actions, the zoo might have to get a higher fence around the spider monkey enclosure, which will make it harder for guests to see them.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
