How chimpanzee Azalea from North Korea quit smoking

No one will argue with the statement that there is nothing good about smoking. This is not denied even by heavy smokers. But it is even worse when those who do not realize the danger of this habit smoke, for example, children or animals. Azalea, a chimpanzee from the zoo in Pyongyang, North Korea, could consider herself an avid smoker. She smoked up to 40 cigarettes a day. Fortunately, it was possible to end the addiction (but this is not accurate).

A female chimpanzee named Azalea, in the Korean version of Dallae, is 25 years old. The animal smoked a significant part of its life, and did it very spectacularly.

Imagine a monkey that goes to the bars, behind which there are zoo visitors and gestures asking for a cigarette. After receiving a cigarette, Azalea strikes her own lighter and begins to smoke. If the chimpanzee is not given a cigarette, Azalea, without hiding her irritation, goes to the feeder, where she has her own, left by the zoo staff.

Azalea started smoking in 2016, thanks to a trainer. The aviary with a smoking monkey has become the most popular attraction of the Pyongyang zoo, whose patron is Kim Jong-un himself. The leader of North Korea, it turns out, is a big fan of animals in cages and in 2014-2016, by his decree, the zoo was reconstructed.

Now it is not just a place where you can see strange animals from different parts of the planet. The specifics of the zoo is that many animals are trained here and taught to perform various tricks. For example, here you can see dogs counting on bills, monkeys playing basketball and a parrot telling laudatory poems about the founder of the DPRK, Kim Il Sung. But Azalea was unlucky — she was taught to smoke.

Kim Jong-un often comes to the zoo and almost always visits Azalea. The smoking monkey amused the North Korean leader, who is an avid smoker himself. Perhaps if you live in North Korea, tobacco addiction is not the worst thing that can happen to you. But when animal advocates found out about the smoking monkey, serious passions boiled around Azalea.

Ingrid Newkirk, president of the organization "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals", said that "it is inhumane to intentionally introduce chimpanzees to tobacco for human entertainment." For certain reasons, the activist could not personally express her indignation to the management of the zoo in Pyongyang. Therefore, Newkirk began writing letters to the zoo and to the environmental Ministry of the DPRK.

Correspondence began with the zoo administration and it turned out that not quite callous people work there. The employees began to justify themselves and told Ingrid that Azalea does not smoke like a person. It does not suck smoke into the lungs like a real smoker, but simply simulates the process. At the same time, they still agreed that this habit is dangerous for the animal.

Swedish zoo expert Jonas Wallstrom joined the rescue of Azalea. This person had the opportunity to visit the Pyongyang Zoo. While working as the managing director of a wildlife park in Stockholm, Wallstrom visited zoos in North Korea at least 30 times at the invitation of the country's government as a consultant. When he found out about Azalea, he was genuinely outraged.

It is difficult to say how the zoo was able to explain to Kim Jong-un that the chimpanzee would no longer be his company in smoking. They say that the Secretary General of the Communist Party of the DPRK himself quit smoking, but this is unverified information. The fact remains that no one sees Azalea with cigarettes anymore.