Anastasia Luchkina, who has one professional boxing fight to her name, is facing significant backlash over her latest actions at a zoo.
A video of the 24-year-old sharing a vape with an orangutan has sent social media wild, and the Russian fighter has been condemned for her actions.
She handed her e-cigarette to an orangutan at the Taigan safari park in Crimea, as seen in shocking footage she shared.
Luchkina audaciously uploaded a video on social media of her poking her pink e-cigarette through the fencing so that the primate could take a puff. The 24-year-old starts the clip by showing herself taking a long drag on the device before exhaling the vapour and offering it to the animal caged in its enclosure.
In the shocking footage, the orangutan mimics Luchkina’s actions and also takes a long puff on her vape.
The orangutan, named Dana, and the only one of its kind in Crimea, has reportedly lost her appetite, refuses to interact with others, and “lies motionless throughout the day.”
She has lived in the safari park since 2018.
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A Russian boxer was filmed teaching an orangutan to vape at a zoo in occupied Crimea.
— Polymarket Intel (@PolymarketIntel) June 30, 2025
The stunt sparked backlash, and she now faces disciplinary action.
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Unfortunately, the orangutan is feared to have swallowed the cartridge of the e-cigarette, which contains between 2.5 and 3 ml of nicotine liquid.
PETA UK vice president Mimi Bekhechi shared a similar sentiment, telling SunSport: “Anastasia Luchkina must have received a few too many knocks to the head if she thinks it’s a lark to give an orangutan a vape…a violation of this intelligent, gentle ape’s welfare.”
“I didn’t know Anastasia was a smoker,” Luchkina’s coach, Vladimir Akatov, told reporters, per zamin.uz. She is currently on vacation. We will definitely discuss this matter when she returns.”
Will Anastasia Luchkina face Punishment?
Anastasia Luchkina, a 24-year-old who has represented Russia at international level before turning professional last month, filmed herself giving her e-cigarette to a 10-year-old female orangutan who lives at Taigan safari park in Crimea.
In the video, Luchkina puffs on a pink vape and blows out vapor before holding it to Dana’s lips through one of the holes in the enclosure.
The orangutan puffed on the vape before blowing out a plume of vapor.
The safari park’s veterinarian, Vasily Piskovoy, has since revealed that Dana has become ill from the vape.
‘While smoking, Dana took the cap off the vape and put it in her mouth,’ Piskovoy said.
‘I’m worried that Dana might swallow the cap, because this plastic can cause intestinal blockage and vomiting.
Today, she’s already eating poorly, feeling unwell, and sleeping all day.
‘If there is an intestinal blockage, then all responsibility will fall on the shoulders of this girl. Danochka is like a child. She will put everything in her mouth, and God forbid, she might swallow it.
‘This is very dangerous. It is not so dangerous that she smoked, although this is also very bad, as it is dangerous if she swallowed this cap, then, God forbid, Dana will have to be operated on.’
‘This is clearly intentional cruelty to an animal. She knew exactly what she was doing and definitely harmed the animal. This is a crime,’ Aleksagina said of Anastasia Luchkina’s actions.
