Chimpanzee attacks owner and police

[MA-Caver]

Pet Chimp Given Xanax Prior to Attack


Owner Stabs Animal Repeatedly in Attempt to Help Visitor Under Attack

By STEPHANIE REITZ
, AP
posted: 6 HOURS 24 MINUTES AGO

comments: 855
filed under: Animal News, Crime News, National News

HARTFORD, Conn. (Feb. 17) - A 200-pound domesticated chimpanzee who once starred in TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola was shot dead by police after a violent rampage that left a friend of its owner badly mauled.
Sandra Herold, who owned the 15-year-old chimp named Travis, wrestled with the animal, stabbed it and hit it with a shovel after it inexplicably attacked her friend Charla Nash, 55.

Inexplicably? Hmm lemme give it a shot... hmm lessee here umm...
1. It's a WILD animal no matter how long it's been tamed it's still a wild and powerfully dangerous animal.
2. It's given a drug designed to placate humans which this creature most certainly is NOT
3. Again, it's a WILD animal. You don't expect them to be all sweet and cuddly no matter how long you've had it. Sheesh! How thick can you get?

Even the owner had to STAB the beastie several times in an attempt to get it off their friend. Also wasn't too bright an idea to teach it how to manipulate doors where as it attacked the police officer next by opening the squad-car door and having at him.
The officer fired several shots into it and it STILL walked off and got as far as the house before it died... should be a clue as to how strong these animals are and how stupid it was to take it for granted just because it had never exhibited this behavior before.

Sad that this animal had to die.
They belong in the wild and protected in the wild... not wearing diapers and led around on a leash and made to dress up for whatever commercial that pays the owner big bucks.

 

[Gordon Nore]

200-pound domesticated chimpanzee

!!!

Without getting into specifics, I tip the scales at something above 200 lbs, and I'm a large, strong man. A two-hundred pound chimp is one terrifyingly powerful beastie.

I went to the African Lion Safari park in Ontario with my son when he was little. The folks in the van ahead ignored the "Do not feed the animals," sign and a little chimp tore rubber molding strips off the roof of the van like it was masking tape.

 

[seasoned]

I just saw this on TV. Very sad, and scary, but at the same time naive of the owner. Even great pets like dogs if given the right situation, will turn on you or anybody else without warning.

 

[MA-Caver]

!!!

Without getting into specifics, I tip the scales at something above 200 lbs, and I'm a large, strong man. A two-hundred pound chimp is one terrifyingly powerful beastie.

It's been said that a full grown adult chimpanzee has enough strength to pull a man's arm out of it's socket... and totally off. Just don't mess with an animal that out weighs you and has the musculature in proportion.
Even a small one as you said is pretty dang strong.
That Jane Goodall didn't get ripped to pieces by that wild group of Chimps she was studying is a miracle.
Oh something else to consider... they're one of the few animals besides man that actually wage an offensive war against their own or lesser (primate) species.

 

[LuckyKBoxer]

I did not even realize a Chimpanzee could weigh 200 pounds before this story. I knew Apes could, but wow that is scary. Makes you wonder how your martial art would stand up to a wild animal like that if it got out of a building and attacked you.

I have thought about what I would do if Dogs attacked me, it has never happened, and I have never practiced, but I have thought about it, since it is a semi possible scenario. I wouldn't even know what to do if a Chimp came at me. How fast can they run? I know they are much more powerful then I am, but wow that is a scenario that is a true nightmare to run into..
I heard the 911 tapes today, it was horrible listening to the 70 year old lady who owned the chimp screaming in the phone that the chimp had torn the other ladies face off and that she was dead and they needed to come shoot the chimp.. then the cops coming and in the background hearing them scream that they had to get the "man" with his face torn off out of there... how bad was the damage if they could not even identify the person... WOW scary

 

[Brian King]

A different attack but one that does show the strength of a smaller chimp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtucwBlNr3A

Regards
Brian King

 

[Archangel M]

Animals like these should never be household pets IMO. The wild or a Zoo...

 

[Jade Tigress]

Animals like these should never be household pets IMO. The wild or a Zoo...

I couldn't agree more. I read on CNN yesterday, can't find it now, that shortly before the attack, the chimp was given Xanax and something else I can't remember. WTF??

 

[seasoned]

A different attack but one that does show the strength of a smaller chimp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtucwBlNr3A

Regards
Brian King

And this is after feeding them for 2 years. Some people just don’t get it. They think there is a connection between man and monkey, and we need to communicate. :shrug:

 

[Sukerkin]

There is a connection genetically and we do need to communicate; well maybe just "We have guns and you don't! Don't get any ideas about extending your 'range'".

Very much a cautionary tale at any rate. Also, like Boxer, I did not know that they could get that big .

 

[Bill Mattocks]

It is a horrific tale, and a cautionary one. I fully agree, animals such as this should not be kept as pets.

 

[seasoned]

There is a connection genetically and we do need to communicate; well maybe just "We have guns and you don't! Don't get any ideas about extending your 'range'".

Very much a cautionary tale at any rate. Also, like Boxer, I did not know that they could get that big .

From the news article, he ate at the dinner table with her every day. Steak, lobster, wine. He was living fat and happy, not that size makes a difference, because even smaller chimps are very strong.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Just saw a show that was talking about Chimps

Basically it said when small many people think they are cute and cuddly.

When they grow up they can get rather nasty and are roughly 6 times stronger than the average human.

Adult chimps in the wild have been known to kill (commit murder) and occasionally eat what they kill. They tend to attack the face and the crotch as well when they attack.

IMO it is most certainly not something you want around the house.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Just saw a show that was talking about Chimps

Basically it said when small many people think they are cute and cuddly.

When they grow up they can get rather nasty and are roughly 6 times stronger than the average human.

Adult chimps in the wild have been known to kill (commit murder) and occasionally eat what they kill. They tend to attack the face and the crotch as well when they attack.

IMO it is most certainly not something you want around the house.

I think the same thing about teenagers.

 

[MA-Caver]

From the news article, he ate at the dinner table with her every day. Steak, lobster, wine.

If that's correct then another mistake was made by the owner. Chimpanzees and gorillas and most primates are omnivores, like bears. They primarily eat fruit and veggies but occasionally a small bird or lizard if they can catch them and insects of all types. But giving the animal a steady diet of meat is not good. No wild chimp that I could possibly think of ever had Lobster... crayfish maybe. Also giving the animal alcohol was a huge mistake.
Xanax was the straw that broke the back.
The owner is totally at fault here and should be charged IMO with animal cruelty.

Wonder what Charlton Heston would've done?

 

[Xue Sheng]

I think the same thing about teenagers.

I have to admit I have meant a few that were certainly not something you want around the house

 

[CoryKS]

Every year at the fair there is a tent where people can pay to have their picture taken with a chimp. Every year, my kid asks me to let him go see the chimp and I tell him no. I don't care what kind of nifty tricks you can teach it to do, it's still a wild animal - and an incredibly strong one. It doesn't have a thousands-of-years track record of domestication like dogs do. People who take chances with wild animals because they're "cute" or because they think they've come to an understanding with it are deluding themselves.

 

[Grenadier]

Wonder what Charlton Heston would've done?

He would have pulled the trigger on ol' Alpha-Omega, and sent a cobalt bomb flying towards the enemy...

Seriously, though, all of those docile chimps you see on television are probably less than 5 years old, when they're not nearly as aggressive. Once they get to their adult age, they are susceptible to a wide range of emotional swings.

I was listening to "Rick 'n Bubba" this morning on the radio, and they played back a good portion of the 9-1-1 call. Very chilling, indeed, and the owner of the chimp was lucky that she didn't get pounded as well. There was a portion where the 9-1-1 operator was trying to make heads and tails of the situation, and the woman is yelling that she wants someone with a gun there, and he at first, misunderstands, thinking that there's someone with a gun there.

I can't fault the 9-1-1 operator, since these folks have to try to get as much info as they can get, from people who are often times not in the right frame of mind.

The lady who got mauled by this chimp is in pretty bad condition, apparently with parts of her face torn off, and possible some extremities, too.

I was wondering why the officers simply didn't shoot the chimp to death in the first place? As it turned out, the chimp fled, and then returned to the scene later, and tried to go after the officers in the car.

It's sad, indeed, to see a highly intelligent animal being put down like this, and I hope that chimp owners everywhere can learn something from this awful situation.

 

[MA-Caver]

This is the article about the 911 call which details the event.

Chimp owner begs police in 911 call to stop attack

By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN – 3 hours ago
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jvlkKth37Fp__GL6KYdl2b1s6dBgD96E1APG0STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) — The frantic owner of a 200-pound chimpanzee that went berserk in Connecticut pleaded with police over the phone to help her stop the animal from mauling her friend, begging them to "Hurry, please! He ripped her face off."
Police in Stamford released 911 tapes of Sandra Herold's desperate call to police Monday as her 15-year-old chimp, Travis, was attacking 55-year-old Charla Nash.
The chimp can be heard grunting at times on the tape, as Herold cries, "He's killing my friend!"
The dispatcher says, "Who's killing your friend?"
Herold replies, "My chimpanzee! He ripped her apart! Shoot him, shoot him!"
After police arrive, one officer radios back: "There's a man down. He doesn't look good," he says, referring to the disfigured Nash. "We've got to get this guy out of here. He's got no face."
The chimp attacked Nash as Herold, 70, frantically stabbed her beloved pet with a butcher knife and pounded him with a shovel.
"He looked at me like, 'Mom, what did you do?'" Herold told NBC's "Today Show" in an interview aired Wednesday. "It was horrific what happened and I had to do what I had to do, but still, I'll miss him for the rest of my life."
Nash remained was in critical condition early Wednesday with major injuries to her face and hands.
Police said they are looking into the possibility of criminal charges. A pet owner can be held criminally responsible if he or she knew or should have known that an animal was a danger to others.

Expert's take on the incident.

Colleen McCann, a primatologist at the Bronx Zoo, said chimpanzees are unpredictable and dangerous even after living among humans for years.
"I don't know the effects of Lyme disease on chimpanzees, but I will say that it's deceiving to think that if any animal is, quote-unquote, well-behaved around humans that means there is no risk involved to humans for potential outbursts of behavior," she said. "They are unpredictable, and in instances like this you cannot control that behavior or prevent it from happening if it is in a private home."

Take a look at the size of the animal (below) ... what does it tell you. In your mind's eye straighten the animal to upright position compared to the woman holding the leash... gets pretty intimidating doesn't it?

Carelessness on the owner's part and arrogance that they can handle it.

I'm not trying to sensationalize this event as horrific as it seems but it makes me outraged that people still think they're enough to handle animals without due caution. This is a perfect example of it. The chimp could've easily killed someone.
They belong in the wild or in zoo's and behind a moat where they can't jump across or swim. Preferably I'd like 'em in the wild but with poachers and habitat losses going on in the world... the zoos are the next best thing.

 

[bluekey88]

I heard an interview on the radio with a trainer that was familiar with this particualr chimp and his history...here's some other facts to consider:

He only worked a couple of "ads" when he was very young...had ben given free range of the household for years.

This woman's husband used to take the chimp out in hsi tow truck to ride around town. In 2003, there was an incident where this chimp left the truck in the middle of the intersection and it took the man and police 2 and a half hours to get him calm and back in the truck. The signs were already there.

Now, we have a situation where, as I understand it, the chimp had gone for thie woman's keys and indicated he wanted to go for a ride. She told him no. he got agitated. She gave him a xanax. We have a large, powerfukl beast, whose already ticked off...and now feeling all out of sorts from meds. Tragic.

Peace,
Erik