Woman Fired And Arrested For Feeding Cheetos To Monkeys At El Paso Zoo

When you do clownery…

Source: John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service / Getty

Sneaking around a zoo is a ridiculous way to end up behind bars, but that didn’t stop a woman from jumping a barrier at a zoo last weekend. The woman who’s from Texas and surprisingly not Florida, was seen in a viral video climbing into an animal enclosure at the El Paso zoo and chilling with two spider monkeys under a waterfall. As if running up on exotic animals wasn’t a bad enough idea, she was breaking the #1 zoo rule and feeding them! That’s all a feces-flinging species needs, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos to give them bubble guts, too. Yikes!

According to the zookeeper, the monkeys have a strict specialized diet, and eating human food could cause major bowel disruptions and stomach problems. Primates are also highly vulnerable to contracting infectious diseases humans carry, so exposure to COVID-19 was another significant health concern. The spider monkeys involved, Libby and Sunday, were physically unharmed after the encounter. However, unauthorized encounters with random humans could do long-term damage to the animals’ delicate relationship with their handlers.

NBC News reports the woman was identified as 26-year-old Luz Elizabeth Rae. A police press release stated that she Rae was booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility under a $1,500 bond. Officials at the El Paso zoo take the safety of their animals very seriously and are pressing charges for criminal trespassing. She was released on bond Thursday, but this is just the beginning of the consequences for Rae.

Rae’s employer, Lovett Law Firm, released a statement shortly after the incident, condemning her criminal behavior as “reckless and irresponsible.” The firm also announced that they terminated her.

Hopefully, randoms like Rae will keep the Tarzan cosplay to themselves and leave the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos to Saweetie.