red
Well-known member
Since to PETA, an animal's life is worth more than a humans, will they protest the shooting of the chimp? Doesn't he have rights too & was just expressing his dislike of the woman's new hairdo? So what that she's in critical condition & there have been other episodes that indicate he wasn't safe? He was the poor woman's son. The police should have just let him climb into their cruiser, he just wanted a ride, but no, they shot him! FYI- I'm just looking at this from PETA's point of view, not my own. Wouldn't have one of those things in my house let alone dress him up & put diapers on him!
Horrific Details Emerge in Chimp Attack
STAMFORD, Conn. (Feb. 18) — 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.
Police said that the chimp was agitated
earlier Monday and that Herold had given
him the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in some
tea. Police said the drug had not been
prescribed for the 14-year-old chimp.
In humans, Xanax can cause memory
loss, lack of coordination, reduced sex
drive and other side effects. It can also
lead to aggression in people who were
unstable to begin with, said Dr. Emil
Coccaro, chief of psychiatry at the
University of Chicago Medical Center.
“Xanax could have made him worse,” if
human studies are any indication,
Coccaro said.
Investigators said they were also told that
Travis had Lyme disease, a tick-borne
illness with flu-like symptoms that can
http://news.aol.com/article/chimp-attack/345471
2
lead to arthritis and meningitis in humans.
“Maybe from the medications he was out
of sorts,” Stamford police Capt. Richard
Conklin said.
Nash had gone to Herold’s home in
Stamford on 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 with a
knife.
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. An officer
shot Travis several times after the animal
opened the door to his cruiser and started
to get in.
The wounded chimpanzee fled into the
house and retreated to his living quarters,
where he died.
Herold, a widow whose daughter was
killed in a car accident several years ago,
told the Today Show that the incident was
“a freak thing.”
She said Travis “couldn’t have been more
my son than if I gave birth to him,” and
rejected criticism that chimpanzees are
inappropriate pets.
“It’s a horrible thing, but I’m not a horrible
person and he’s not a horrible chimp.”
she said.
The unexplained attack was
uncharacteristic of Travis, a veteran of TV
commercials who could eat at the table,
drink wine from a stemmed glass, use the
toilet, and dress and bathe himself.
Don Mecca, a family friend from
Colchester, N.Y., said Herold fed the
chimp steak, lobster, ice cream and
Italian food.
Travis brushed his teeth with a Water Pik,
logged on to a computer to look at photos
and channel-surfed television with the
remote control.
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.”
Connecticut law requires anyone who
owns a primate heavier than 50 pounds to
obtain a state permit. But Herold was
exempted from the law.
http://news.aol.com/article/chimp-attack/345471
3
When he was younger, Travis starred in
TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-
Cola, made an appearance on the “Maury
Povich
Horrific Details Emerge in Chimp Attack
STAMFORD, Conn. (Feb. 18) — 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.
Police said that the chimp was agitated
earlier Monday and that Herold had given
him the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in some
tea. Police said the drug had not been
prescribed for the 14-year-old chimp.
In humans, Xanax can cause memory
loss, lack of coordination, reduced sex
drive and other side effects. It can also
lead to aggression in people who were
unstable to begin with, said Dr. Emil
Coccaro, chief of psychiatry at the
University of Chicago Medical Center.
“Xanax could have made him worse,” if
human studies are any indication,
Coccaro said.
Investigators said they were also told that
Travis had Lyme disease, a tick-borne
illness with flu-like symptoms that can
http://news.aol.com/article/chimp-attack/345471
2
lead to arthritis and meningitis in humans.
“Maybe from the medications he was out
of sorts,” Stamford police Capt. Richard
Conklin said.
Nash had gone to Herold’s home in
Stamford on 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 with a
knife.
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. An officer
shot Travis several times after the animal
opened the door to his cruiser and started
to get in.
The wounded chimpanzee fled into the
house and retreated to his living quarters,
where he died.
Herold, a widow whose daughter was
killed in a car accident several years ago,
told the Today Show that the incident was
“a freak thing.”
She said Travis “couldn’t have been more
my son than if I gave birth to him,” and
rejected criticism that chimpanzees are
inappropriate pets.
“It’s a horrible thing, but I’m not a horrible
person and he’s not a horrible chimp.”
she said.
The unexplained attack was
uncharacteristic of Travis, a veteran of TV
commercials who could eat at the table,
drink wine from a stemmed glass, use the
toilet, and dress and bathe himself.
Don Mecca, a family friend from
Colchester, N.Y., said Herold fed the
chimp steak, lobster, ice cream and
Italian food.
Travis brushed his teeth with a Water Pik,
logged on to a computer to look at photos
and channel-surfed television with the
remote control.
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.”
Connecticut law requires anyone who
owns a primate heavier than 50 pounds to
obtain a state permit. But Herold was
exempted from the law.
http://news.aol.com/article/chimp-attack/345471
3
When he was younger, Travis starred in
TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-
Cola, made an appearance on the “Maury
Povich
