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A chimpanzee who spent years smoking and drinking while working at Russian casino has died at the age of 24.

The ape, named John, picked up the bad habits after gamblers at the Kosmos casino in Moscow began offering him whiskey and cigarettes.

He was originally used to entertain customers at the casino but later worked as a croupier, spinning roulette wheels while swilling liquor and puffing on thick cigars.

The hard-living chimp was transferred to Gelendzhik safari park in 2008 to try and get him to kick the booze and fags.

But despite improvements in his health, this week keepers at the Black Sea coast facility announced John had died of a heart attack, aged 24.

In captivity, chimps are expected to live between 50 and 60 years, ten years longer than in the wild.

When John was first transferred to Gelendzhik he was kept away from visitors for an entire year because his health was so poor, according to The Times .

The director of the park, Nikolay Mashinsky, said yesterday that the chimp had suffered from a raft of conditions such as diabetes, oedema and dermatitis because of his "turbulent" life at the casino.

He added: "His immune system was weak, he was constantly coughing and he had a high temperature for almost a year."

Being deprived of alcohol sent John into fits of rage and made him refuse food, Mashinsky said, forcing keepers to gradually wean him off with measured doses.

But by 2010 the newly teetotal chimp was able to "shine in public and make an impression".

He even "seriously took up drawing", to the delight of younger visitors, the director said.

John is not the first - or last - primate to be sucked into a life of vice.

Last month the Telegraph reported that a 19-year-old chain-smoking female chimpanzee had become the "gawker" attraction at a North Korean zoo, angering animal rights campaigners.