FOOTBALL fever has swept the country but it’s not just the humans who are getting in on the action.

A bachelor group of chimpanzees at Monkey World have been having fun of their own after 26 footballs were donated to the sanctuary near Wool.

The 14 chimpanzees in Butch’s group, dubbed the “hooligans” of the park, have been having a whale of a time with the footballs – with “only a small amount of foul play”.

The footballs were seized by Dorset County Council’s trading standards team as part of an investigation into a company selling fake football signatures.

Rather than see the balls go to waste, Neil Martin, principal trading standards officer, contacted Monkey World to see if they could be put to good use.

He said: “We are delighted the footballs found a good home at Monkey World and I hope the chimpanzees get a lot of fun from them.”

The sanctuary was set up by Jim Cronin in 1987 and is now home to more than 250 rescued & endangered monkeys & apes, from all around the world.

Many of the primates have been rescued from neglect, abuse and cruelty.