SIDELINES...

CHIMP AFFAIR

Management at Antwerp Zoo have intervened to break up a relationship between a female visitor and one of their male chimps as they feel he needs to concentrate on socialising with other chimps. Adie Timmermans has been making weekly visits to see Chita, a 38-year-old chimp, for four years. During her visits they blow kisses to each other and wave through the glass of the chimp enclosure. An emotional Ms Timmermans said: “The problem is I’m having an affair I’d say with a chimpanzee. I love that animal and he loves me.” metro.co.uk, 25 Aug 2021.

FAST FOOD

In a lawsuit filed in Russia, Orthodox Christian Ksenia Ovchinnikova is suing McDonalds because she claims their ads made her break her Lent fast. Because of her beliefs she is supposed to avoid meat, dairy, poultry, and meat by-products for Lent, but after a month of fasting she said: “I saw an advertising banner, I could not help myself. I visited McDonald’s and bought a cheeseburger.” Her lawsuit claims that McDonalds should not have advertised their meat and dairy products when Christians were trying to stay away from them and requests 1,000 roubles (£10) compensation for “moral damage”. bizarre.awm. com, 17 Aug 2021.

NO FARM

After spotting a Buick at a McDonald’s drive-through in Marshfield, Wisconsin, with a cow in the back seat, Jessica Nelson posted a video of the sight to Facebook. The cow’s owner saw the post and responded saying that he’d just bought the calf at auction and was taking it home, along with two others she hadn’t seen that were lying on the floor. boingboing.net, 30 Aug 2021.