I've seen some bizarre stories, but...

[DrHenley]

This one takes the cake!

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/monkeys-apes-chain-smoking-cigarettes-21798902
Monkeys and apes chain smoking cigarettes as coronavirus panic grips planet
Stressed-out primates have taken to chain smoking cigarettes as the coronavirus crisis rages across the globe.

 

[tmttactical]

Maybe they read an article about some tobacco smokers living longer. They should have read the whole article, it was PIPE smokers. LOL

 

[Kevin L]

Every time I think humans can't sink any lower, something else comes along--like teaching animals to smoke for our entertainment--to show me that there are greater depths to human depravity.

 

[Kevin L]

Every time I think humans can't sink any lower, something else comes along--like teaching animals to smoke for our entertainment--to show me that there are greater depths to human depravity.

As an addenum to my earlier post, a question occurs to me.

What's the difference between hooking animals on cigarettes for our entertainment vs. people who enjoy the "sport" of dog fighting?

I would feel differently if this was about scientists experimenting on animals with tobacco to learn more about cancer and/or heart disease, but this seems to be about nothing more than getting a laugh.

I equate this with a fisherman I knew who once--for entertainment--slit open a small shark's abdomen, and threw it back in the water so that he could laugh about this poor thing eating it's own entrails.

I punched him in the face once we got back to shore, and I never spoke to him again.

I'm not (currently) a vegetarian, but I make a distinction between killing to eat and killing for entertainment. Sadism (for it's own sake) toward lower animals that can't defend themselves is the epitome of cowardly behavior.

Everyone here buys into the "slippery slope" when it comes to abortion, gun control, and immigration. I usually dismiss the slippery slope as a fallacy, but--with the idea that I'm opening myself up to the suggestion that I'm a hypocrite--I'll bring up the slippery slope here, and say that people who enjoy doing these things are--in my mind--only a few steps away from being sadistic toward people.

All life is God's creation, and should be respected.

 

[tmttactical]

A large portion of the serial killers started out with torturing and killing animal. I am a meat eater, but since I can buy my meat in the store, so I don't hunt. Now that may change in the future and I won't hesitate to drop some critter into the cooking pot. There is no need to torture animals. As for the monkey, I doubt it will live long enough to develop any medical / physical problems from it's limited supply of cigarettes. Do I advocate for this practice, NO, but I did think it was interesting. I would never have believed you could even get a monkey to hold a lit cigarette, much less actually smoke one. I am also an EX-Smoker of 2 plus packs a day. Smoked for about 45 years.

 

[GaRp58]

I would never have believed you could even get a monkey to hold a lit cigarette, much less actually smoke one.

Both of you, Urbanprep and Kevin are right but there is one thing I think has been forgotten. Chimps and gorillas are smart enough to copy what they see humans doing. Which also means that they have found and or stolen cigarettes from humans and simply copied the "stupid" actions of smoking. If they had fun being special among the other "zoo inmates" and prisoners behind bars, then they wanted to smoke more. Also, if they get or simulate withdrawal symtoms and get aggressive towards the zoo keepers, maybe they were just given the smokes to calm them down or keep the peace?? GP

 

[bigpaul]

Daily Star isn't a serious newspaper and any stories in it should be taken with a pinch of salt.

 

[Kevin L]

I believed the story because--as part of some courses in substance abuse that I took when I was a medic--I saw footage of apes smoking crack as part of an experiment studying the properties of addictive drugs like cocaine.

It seems that once an ape gets hooked on crack and is given an endless supply (which was part of the experiment), it will sit there and huff on the crack pipe for days on end . . . with no sleep, no interest in food . . . and no interest in even moving itself away from the growing pile of feces that start to build up under the animal.

After a few days of nonstop binging on crack, it drops dead from a combination of heart failure, dehydration, and pulmonary edema.

 

[Arcticdude]

There's nothing funnier than a monkey smoking a cigerette. Unless the monkey is drinking a beer while smoking.

 

[Brent S]

A large portion of the serial killers started out with torturing and killing animal. I am a meat eater, but since I can buy my meat in the store, so I don't hunt. Now that may change in the future and I won't hesitate to drop some critter into the cooking pot. There is no need to torture animals. As for the monkey, I doubt it will live long enough to develop any medical / physical problems from it's limited supply of cigarettes. Do I advocate for this practice, NO, but I did think it was interesting. I would never have believed you could even get a monkey to hold a lit cigarette, much less actually smoke one. I am also an EX-Smoker of 2 plus packs a day. Smoked for about 45 years.

Glad you said ex smoker

 

[KateMTx]

I believed the story because--as part of some courses in substance abuse that I took when I was a medic--I saw footage of apes smoking crack as part of an experiment studying the properties of addictive drugs like cocaine.

It seems that once an ape gets hooked on crack and is given an endless supply (which was part of the experiment), it will sit there and huff on the crack pipe for days on end . . . with no sleep, no interest in food . . . and no interest in even moving itself away from the growing pile of feces that start to build up under the animal.

After a few days of nonstop binging on crack, it drops dead from a combination of heart failure, dehydration, and pulmonary edema.

This is horrible. I don't think I needed to know this. I guess studies have to be done somehow but poor animals.

 

[Kevin L]

This is horrible. I don't think I needed to know this. I guess studies have to be done somehow but poor animals.

I agree with you.

I was extremely disgusted, but it was a powerful demonstration to the politicians, police, and military people about the dangers of freebase cocaine.

 

[GaRp58]

I guess studies have to be done somehow but poor animals.

But.. but.. but.. I thought we had enough poor dumb politicians to do these studies on. And cops. And other humans who would also volunteer.