Paris Hilton apologises over orangutan picture

Paris Hilton has apologised to United Nations officials after posting a clip of her posing with an orangutan online.

The former reality star shared a video on Instagram.com back in 2014, which showed her cuddling the one-year-old animal from Dubai, named Dior, who was dressed up in little girl's clothes.

"She's the cutest little girl in the world," Paris said in the footage, kissing the orangutan on the head.

"This is baby Dior," she captioned her post. "She's a lil (sic) princess."

The social media upload attracted some criticism from animal rights activists at the time, and on Wednesday (04May16), Paris found herself under fire once more after experts at the United Nation's (UN) Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) highlighted the hotel heiress' post, claiming images like hers hurt conservation efforts to protect the endangered species and instead promote captive abuse.

"Great apes are neither playthings nor pets," GRASP bosses stated, "and Ms. Hilton's lack of perspective is appalling."

Paris has since apologised for her past actions, explaining that she never intended to do any harm.

"I do agree with what they're saying," she told People.com. "I'm an animal lover. I have friends who actually rescue (captive) animals from these places and they can't be put back in the wild.

"So these are animals that have actually been rescued. I just did it because I love animals."

Paris made her comments while attending the 10th annual Delete Blood Cancer DKMS Gala Mary 5 in New York City on Thursday (05May16).