Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park has taken the rare step of banning a visitor because his chanting and chest beating upset the gorillas.

Andrew Wright, a self-proclaimed wizard and energy healer, was banned last week after he visited the park's newly opened Great Ape Centre on two consecutive days and got the gorillas – Fataki, Fuzu and Mahali – so agitated that two of them charged the glass.

Staff monitoring the enclosure repeatedly asked Wright, who was chanting, beating his chest, mimicking the gorillas and intently staring at them, to stop what he was doing but he persisted, park marketing manager Nathan Hawke said.

KIRK KARGREAVES Gorillas Fataki (left) and Mahali became agitated after a visitor to the park chanted at them and mimicked their behaviour.

Wright was gutted by the decision, saying the animals responded positively to his chanting, which was designed to comfort them and make them feel relaxed.

The three critically endangered Western Lowland gorillas were brought to the $6 million centre from Sydney's Taronga Zoo. They have been on public display for a couple of weeks.

While the gorillas had not seem too troubled by Wright's behaviour on the first day, on the second day they had reacted aggressively to his presence. When he moved to the inside viewing area, where 20 to 30 other people were watching the gorillas, two of the gorillas singled him out and charged at the glass.

"The fact our big boy, who is 190kg, shoulder charged the glass, which he has not done before, says to us we have highly agitated gorillas. We spoke to him [Wright] and asked him to move along. As soon as he left the gorilla behaviour returned to normal," Hawke said.

Wright had caused problems at the park a few years ago when he used to visit dressed as a wizard and chant at the animals. Staff were no longer prepared to tolerate his unsettling behaviour, Hawke said.

The decision to ban Wright from the park had not been made lightly but the welfare of the animals had to be put first.

"We've had crystal healers in the zoo, aura people, horse whisperers and all sorts out here. We embrace everything but when it crosses the line of starting to upset animals then we have to do something. "I don't recall us ever banning anyone else. We don't do it lightly," Hawke said.

Wright, an itinerant, upset that Orana Wildlife Park refused to refund him the $69 he paid for an annual pass, denied his behaviour had upset the gorillas. He was bewildered by management's decision to ban him.

Wright said the gorillas had been playing with him and had responded positively to his chanting. One of the gorillas even came up to the viewing window and high-fived him, he claimed. .

"They weren't agitated at all – they seemed to be enjoying the singing," he said.

Wright said he had been using sound and vibration to soothe and heal animals for years. He had visited Orana Wildlife Park in the past without incident, although staff had asked him to leave his Tibetan bells behind on one occasion as they were making the cheetahs jittery.

"I don't know what the problem is. I've never had animals react badly," he said. He was gutted he was no longer welcome at Orana Wildlife Park as he loved spending time with the animals and it was one of his passions in life.