Sunday People

Rapper ‘trapped’ orangutan in car

Digga D accused of animal abuse

- Amy Sharpe

They are screaming at him.

He is clearly in huge distress

A CONTROVERS­IAL rapper has been accused of animal abuse after playing with an orangutan “trapped” in a car.

Pals jeer as Digga D, 21, feeds the intelligen­t animal strawberry milk and shouts at it in online videos.

The ex-con, big in the drill rap scene that glorifies murder and guns, bought the ape online, say web users.

One horrified follower said: “This is absolute stupidity and cruelty against this animal, endured at the expense of idiotic individual­s.

“The animal is literally trapped in a car and has multiple cameras pointing at him and they are screaming, the animal is clearly in huge distress.

Digga, real name Rhys Herbert, is filming a video in Dubai where, in 2017, trading and owning exotic animals as pets was outlawed.

The footage was shared to 55,000 followers of an Instagram page called Uk1drill and included the words, “digga d buys a monkey on live” – thought to mean online.

In one clip the ape, referred to as George, pulls the car’s red seats as Herbert offers him a bottle.

George peers into the boot and shields his face as passengers yell, “He’s eating something, he’s found something back there” before the primate curls up in a ball.

In another George buries his face and Herbert pats him and shouts “don’t cry”. The rapper appears to try to feed the creature grapes, only for

George to repeatedly bat his hand away. Herbert was released from prison in May after being sentenced to two-and-a-half years in March 2020 for his role in a machete brawl in front of shoppers in Central London.

In 2018 a judge gave him and other members of the 1011 gang a criminal behaviour order meaning their music releases had to be police approved.

Orangutan Foundation’s Rob Durgut said: “Keeping a wild animal, and in particular an intelligen­t and critically endangered species like an orangutan, has damaging implicatio­ns to the individual animal and fuels the illegal wildlife trade.”

Digga D’s agent was approached for a comment.

feedback@people.co.uk

 ?? ?? STORM: Rapper poses with George
VIDEO: Clips angered fans
CONTROVERS­Y: George appears to be suffering
DRINK: Ape offered flavoured milk
STORM: Rapper poses with George VIDEO: Clips angered fans CONTROVERS­Y: George appears to be suffering DRINK: Ape offered flavoured milk

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