Photo: Getty Images
Police are continuing to investigate a scene that unfolded at the El Paso Zoo last year that included a woman jumping into the spider monkey enclosure to feed the animals Flaming Hot Cheetos.
The woman, Luz "Lucy" Rae, was arrested following the May 2021 incident and lost her job at a law firm in the city, according to ABC 7. She also received tons of online hate from animal activists and is now facing a pending criminal trespass case.
Now, about a year later, Rae is speaking out about the incident to defend herself. While Rae did not explicitly explain her reasoning for jumping into the spider monkey enclosure last May, she doesn't think what she did was a crime. Let alone one to warrant a criminal lawsuit. "Well, I don’t think I did anything wrong. I didn’t do anything wrong. I did not hurt anyone," Rae told ABC 7.
Rae's lawyer, Mark T. Davis, added that "no animal was ever abused," citing other videos online that show monkeys being fed "popcorn" and "beer" and other human food. Rae continued to say the monkeys were apparently "extremely excited" when she jumped into the enclosure.
"I can see how people would look at it and see a monkey making noise and jumping around, and that’s really cute and fun, but the people who know those monkeys know they were actually really upset," said Dr. Victoria Milne, chief veterinarian at the El Paso Zoo. While Milne agrees that a single Cheeto won't harm the animals, it wasn't Rae's decision to make in the first place since the monkeys are on special diets. Milne said the real crime was going into the enclosure.
"Just having people jump in and do whatever they feel like can be really disruptive for those animals on the short-term and really unhealthy and unsafe for those animals in the long-term," Milne said. Rae continued to defend her actions, saying there was no signage that prohibited her from jumping into the enclosure. "In the society we live in, in general, a fence without a gate is a barrier that means you’re not supposed to go in there," Milne said.
The investigation into Rae's criminal trespass case is still open, which means the district attorney's office can't prosecute until police turn over all their evidence, ABC 7 reported. Rae has not been banned from the El Paso Zoo, but a decision will be made pending the outcome of the criminal case. Rae said she doesn't plan on apologizing to the zoo for the incident.
"I learned just keep the Cheetos to myself. I can’t share," Rae said, saying it was the only lesson she learned from the incident.