Pet 200-pound chimp killed by officers after it attacks woman in Connecticut home
STEPHANIE REITZ AP News
Feb 17, 2009 08:11 EST
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 after it inexplicably attacked her friend Charla Nash, 55.
Nash had gone to Herold's home Monday to help her coax the chimp back into the house after he got out, police said. After the animal lunged at Nash when she got out of her car, Herold ran inside to call 911 and returned armed.
"She retrieved a large butcher knife and stabbed her longtime pet numerous times in an effort to save her friend, who was really being brutally attacked," said Stamford police Capt. Richard Conklin.
Nash was in critical condition Tuesday after suffering what Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy called "life-changing, if not life-threatening," injuries to her face and hands.
"There was no provocation that we know of. One thing that we're looking into is that we understand the chimpanzee has Lyme disease and has been ill from that, so maybe from the medications he was out of sorts. We really don't know," Conklin said.
After the initial attack, Travis ran away and started roaming Herold's property until police arrived, setting up security so medics could reach the critically injured woman, Conklin said.
But the chimpanzee returned and went after several of the officers, who retreated into their cars, Conklin said. Travis knocked the mirror off a cruiser before opening its door and starting to get in, trapping the officer.
That officer shot the chimpanzee several times, Conklin said.
The wounded chimpanzee fled the scene, but Conklin said police were able to follow the trail of his blood: down the driveway, into the open door of the home, through the house and to his living quarters, where he had retreated and died of his wounds.
Herold and two officers also received minor injuries, police said.
A message seeking comment was left Monday night at Herold's home.
Conklin told reporters the chimp was acting so agitated earlier that afternoon that Herold gave him the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in some tea. Conklin also suggested the animal may have attacked Nash because she was wearing her hair differently and perhaps wasn't recognized.
The chimpanzee was well-known around Stamford because he rode around in trucks belonging to the towing company operated by his owners.
Police have dealt with him in the past, including an incident in 2003 when he escaped from his owners' vehicle in downtown Stamford for two hours. Officers used cookies, macadamia treats and ice cream in an attempt to lure him, but subdued him only after he became too tired to resist.
At the time of the 2003 incident, police said the Herolds told them the chimpanzee was toilet trained, dressed himself, took his own bath, ate at the table and drank wine from a stemmed glass. He also brushed his teeth using a Water Pik, logged onto the computer to look at pictures, and watched television using the remote control, police said.
When he was younger, Travis appeared on TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola, made an appearance on the "Maury Povich Show" and took part in a television pilot, according to a 2003 story in The Advocate newspaper of Stamford.
"He's been raised almost like a child by this family," Conklin said Monday. "He rides in a car every day, he opens doors, he's a very unique animal in that aspect. We have no indication of what provoked this behavior at all."
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Post subject: Re: Connecticut woman mauled by pet chimp
Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:17 pm
Temporary Secretary
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 3:51 am Posts: 43609 Location: My city smells like Cheerios Gender: Male
meatwad wrote:
Surprise! Chimps are unpredictable and dangerous!
I remember a story about a man that had a pet chimp for years that was very affectionate to him every time he visited his cage. One day while visiting, the Chimp bit his face off.
_________________ "No matter how hard you kill Jesus, he would always just come back and hit you twice as hard."
Post subject: Re: Connecticut woman mauled by pet chimp
Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:20 pm
Former PJ Drummer
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 1:32 am Posts: 17563
The first thing chimps go for is your eyes. The second thing? Your balls. They also have been known to peel the skin from people's backs. Chimps are bastards.
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Quote:
The content of the video in this situation is irrelevant to the issue.
Post subject: Re: Connecticut woman mauled by pet chimp
Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 6:00 am
Force of Nature
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2009 6:22 pm Posts: 794
bart d. wrote:
The first thing chimps go for is your eyes. The second thing? Your balls. They also have been known to peel the skin from people's backs. Chimps are bastards.
Post subject: Re: Connecticut woman mauled by pet chimp
Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 6:44 pm
too drunk to moderate properly
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
We are close, people, very, very close! This will clearly be remembered as the turning point.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Post subject: Re: Connecticut woman mauled by pet chimp
Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 8:57 pm
a joke
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:08 am Posts: 22978 Gender: Male
given2trade wrote:
edzeppe wrote:
punkdavid wrote:
Ladies and gentlemen, The New York Post.
I doubt it was their intent. However, that is very wrong on many levels.
Why, cause it's unfair to monkeys?
They are referring to congress.
I phrased that poorly. I dont think its wrong, but im willing to bet they are A.) getting laughs for some very nefarious reasons, and B.) will probably get some angry letters.
Post subject: Re: Connecticut woman mauled by pet chimp
Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:15 pm
Former PJ Drummer
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 5:51 am Posts: 17078 Location: TX
Regardless of their intent, there is absolutely no way I can look at that cartoon and not think "monkeys and black people".
A monkey wrote the stimulus, Obama is black, how much more do you need? As far as I'm concerned, the only way to not see that connection is to be willfully ignorant.
Post subject: Re: Connecticut woman mauled by pet chimp
Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:38 pm
Black Metal Hero
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:04 pm Posts: 39920 Gender: Male
Buffalohed wrote:
Regardless of their intent, there is absolutely no way I can look at that cartoon and not think "monkeys and black people".
A monkey wrote the stimulus, Obama is black, how much more do you need? As far as I'm concerned, the only way to not see that connection is to be willfully ignorant.
BKarak is a strong blacc man, he's above that racist bullshit
And away we go...at least Sharpton has work as a result.
Quote:
NY Post cartoon seems to link Obama to dead chimp By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer Karen Matthews, Associated Press Writer 39 mins ago
NEW YORK – A New York Post cartoon that some have interpreted as comparing President Barack Obama to a violent chimpanzee gunned down by police drew outrage Wednesday from civil rights leaders and elected officials who said it echoed racist stereotypes of blacks as monkeys.
The cartoon in Wednesday's Post by Sean Delonas shows two police officers, one with a smoking gun, standing over the body of a bullet-riddled chimp. The caption reads: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."
The cartoon refers to a chimpanzee named Travis who was killed Monday by police in Stamford, Conn., after it mauled a friend of its owner.
Obama signed his administration's economic stimulus plan on Tuesday.
Critics called the cartoon racist and said it trivialized a tragedy in which a woman was disfigured and a chimpanzee killed. Many urged a boycott of the Post and the companies that advertise in it.
"How could the Post let this cartoon pass as satire?" said Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists. "To compare the nation's first African-American commander in chief to a dead chimpanzee is nothing short of racist drivel."
The Rev. Al Sharpton called the cartoon "troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys."
Sharpton planned to picket the Post on Thursday along with others.
Col Allan, editor-in-chief of the Post, defended the work.
"The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut," Allan said in a statement. "It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist."
The cartoon drew hundreds of comments on the Internet including at the liberal Huffington Post, where columnist Sam Stein wrote: "At its most benign, the cartoon suggests that the stimulus bill was so bad, monkeys may as well have written it. Most provocatively, it compares the president to a rabid chimp."
It is not the first time that Delonas, the longtime cartoonist for the Post's Page Six, has raised eyebrows with a heavy-handed caricature.
An earlier Delonas cartoon made fun of Paul McCartney's ex-wife Heather Mills for having only one leg, and another compared gay people seeking marriage licenses to sheep lovers. In a cartoon last month, an enormous Jessica Simpson dumps boyfriend Tony Romo for Ronald McDonald.
If he was any good he would have had her dumping Tony Romo for...
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