BILLIONAIRE socialite Petra Ecclestone has been blasted for posting footage of her family’s visit to a controversial Dubai animal ‘sanctuary’.
The 37-year-old faced backlash for sharing clips of her children bottle-feeding a captive tiger and holding hands with an orangutan forced into human clothing.
The poor ape can be seen dressed up in a short-sleeved T-shirt and denim shorts as he was paraded around for amusement.
The family can be seen petting tigers on leads and holding hands with a fully-dressed orangutan while visiting Animalia.
Petra captioned the montage: “When in Dubai.”
Animal rights advocates have slammed the cruel display, labelling the exploitation of the animals as ‘anything but ethical’.
PETA‘s Vice President of Programmes Elisa Allen said in a damning statement: “Putting cheetahs on leashes, bottle-feeding tigers or dressing orangutans in clothes pushes the shameful and dangerous idea that wild animals exist for human amusement.
“These animals are not docile props. Without heavy tranquillisation, they are fully capable of maiming or killing a child – ask the survivors of big-cat attacks or the families of those who didn’t survive.
“Social media posts like this normalise reckless, inappropriate human-wildlife interactions and fuel demand for exploitative attractions that treat animals as living playthings.”
She concluded: “We will be writing to Petra to urge her to delete this post and instead support genuine rehabilitation programmes that protect wild animals in their natural habitats, where they belong.”
Angry followers vented: “How can you think this is right if you are an animal lover/supporter?”
A second berated: “Can’t believe you would encourage your children to call this fun. What an example.”
A third begged: “Please do not support these places. I can’t believe these places still exist.”
“Those tigers must be drugged.. you’re lucky enough to be able to take your children anywhere in the world and you do this,” noted a fourth.
The ‘beachside sanctuary’ in the United Arab Emirates claims to ensure all the animals and creatures ‘enjoy the best possible’ life.
Petra is the daughter of Formula 1 billionaire Bernie Ecclestone.
She is married to top broker Sam Palmer who she shares a daughter, Minnie, 5, with.
Petra also has 10-year-old twin boys – James and Andrew – and a 12-year-old daughter – Lavinia – with her ex-husband James Stunt, who she split with in 2017.
The billionaire relocated to Dubai from Los Angeles last year after claiming the ‘quality of life’ in California had ‘gone downhill’.
She said previously: “The crime in America is awful and we want a safe environment for our kids.”
The mother-of-four explained: “It’s the gun crime and the shootings.
“We ice-skated with our kids just before Christmas and a homeless person dropped dead next to us. And seeing people smoke crack is not an environment we want to be in.”
Her famous sister once had her own show – Tamara Ecclestone: Billion $$ Girl on Channel 5 and is worth an estimated £232million.
Last year she was left devastated when £50million worth of gems were stolen from her 57-room London home just hours after she left for a Christmas break.
Their father Bernie and his Brazilian wife Fabiana live a life of luxury which includes a £30million yacht and a total fortune worth £3billion.