A jealous chimp called Romeo flew into a rage and attacked a zookeeper because he thought the man was flirting with his partner called Juliet.
Romeo is reported to have gone ape when Juliet tried to kiss zookeeper Sergey through a glass partitioning in their cage at the Feldman Eco Park zoo in the village of Lisne, north-east Ukraine.
Green-eyed Romeo began beating Juliet with his hands and when Sergey stepped in to try and break them up, the fuming chimp turned on him, biting off his fingers and part of his ear.
He also gave the horrified zookeeper a black eye.
After managing to escape, battered Sergey was rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery for his injuries.
Hospital spokesman Andriy Kozachenko told local media: 'The man's right ear and fingers on his left hand had been chewed and some parts of his ear and fingers are missing as they were bitten off.
'We did our best to save what was left.'
Zoo spokeswoman Valeria Ivashenko said: 'Chimpanzees are very dangerous animals with strong jaws that can easily tear off flesh.
'He should not have entered the cage.
'But he has been looking after the pair of chimpanzees for six years and had feelings for them.'
Sergey said he had a close relationship with both chimps and nothing like this had ever happened before.
He said: 'When Juliet kissed me through glass, Romeo became very angry.
'I think he attacked me out of jealousy.'
A few months ago Romeo and Juliet had their first baby.
The zookeeper added that he knew he shouldn't have entered the cage but broke the rules on purpose as he didn't want Juliet to be injured.
He said is now looking forward to going back to work.
Romeo is reported to have gone ape when Juliet tried to kiss zookeeper Sergey through a glass partitioning in their cage at the Feldman Eco Park zoo in the village of Lisne, north-east Ukraine.
Green-eyed Romeo began beating Juliet with his hands and when Sergey stepped in to try and break them up, the fuming chimp turned on him, biting off his fingers and part of his ear.
He also gave the horrified zookeeper a black eye.
After managing to escape, battered Sergey was rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery for his injuries.
Hospital spokesman Andriy Kozachenko told local media: 'The man's right ear and fingers on his left hand had been chewed and some parts of his ear and fingers are missing as they were bitten off.
'We did our best to save what was left.'
Zoo spokeswoman Valeria Ivashenko said: 'Chimpanzees are very dangerous animals with strong jaws that can easily tear off flesh.
'He should not have entered the cage.
'But he has been looking after the pair of chimpanzees for six years and had feelings for them.'
Sergey said he had a close relationship with both chimps and nothing like this had ever happened before.
He said: 'When Juliet kissed me through glass, Romeo became very angry.
'I think he attacked me out of jealousy.'
A few months ago Romeo and Juliet had their first baby.
The zookeeper added that he knew he shouldn't have entered the cage but broke the rules on purpose as he didn't want Juliet to be injured.
He said is now looking forward to going back to work.
Music: "Danger Storm" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Source: The Sun, Daily Mail
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