CT Chimpanzee Killed After Attacking Owner's Friend

A 200-pound chimpanzee, who was a beloved sight in his Stamford, Connecticut neighborhood, was shot by police officers after he attacked his owner's friend. The Post reports that owner Sondra Herold, 70, was having trouble containing her pet Travis: The Stamford police said that Herold "gave him Xanax in tea to quiet him, but the chimp grabbed the keys to open the kitchen door, went outside and started banging on car doors to indicate he wanted to go for a ride." So Herold called friend Charla Nash for help.

When Nash appeared, Stamford police captain Richard Conklin said that Travis "went up to her, jumped on her and began biting and mauling her." Herold's nephew said that his aunt used a shovel to hit the rampaging animal and then took a kitchen knife and stabbed Travis in the back, but Travis didn't stop. The police arrived and apparently the chimp tore off the cruiser's mirror and opened the door, so the officer, trapped in the cruiser, repeatedly fired at Travis. The animal, now mortally wounded, went back into the home and was found dead in his cage.

Nash is fighting for her life; a paramedic told the NY Times, "I’ve been doing this a long time and have never seen anything this dramatic on a living patient." A friend told WCBS 2, "He bit both of her hands off and the cop told me he just kept eating her. It's terrible."

Capt. Conklin said, "These actions have not been seen in the chimpanzee before. This animal had been raised as a member of the family," and suggested the chimp might have been affected by his Lyme disease medication. Neighbors, who would see the chimp walking around the neighborhood, were surprised. One neighbor spoke highly of Travis's social skills to MyFoxNY: "I tell you, I would rather take Travis out than one of my nephews."

And Travis has been in the spotlight before: Besides filming TV commercials, the NY Times reports he once "playfully held up traffic at a busy intersection for several hours." Also: "Travis’s social skills included drinking wine from a stemmed glass, dressing and bathing himself and using a computer."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on February 17, 2009 9:59 AM

Comments [rss]

Brady DeStefanis

you gave Xanax to a wild animal? do you know what Xanax does? it lowers your inhibitions. it makes you say and do whatever you want without thinking. it's like getting really drunk really fast. of course the monkey suddenly wanted to go for a ride! fun! and when his instincts kicked in and said "eat face!" the Xanax said "go for it!" Good job, morons. Maybe you should buy a tiger next, and feed it PCP! or get a fucking Gorilla and give it some LSD!

Clarice City

They tried Xanax and tea. When that didn't work, they tried a shovel.

NannyState

Hopefrully this disturbing event didn't occur in the Estate Section of Stamford.

chopp3r

"...he once playfully held up traffic at a busy intersection for several hours."

I'd hit the fucker with a shovel, too.

Future Taliban

Speaking of chimps: HOW ABOUT CRIMINAL PROSECUTION FOR GEORGE W BUSH?

Anyone?

Huffy6241

"Don't point out your own obscure reference, doofus."

- Nick S*

*Someone not clever enough to get the joke in actually pointing out the obviously obscure (and still awesome) reference using an asterisk.

Guest

Seeing as how chimps are humans' closest relative, I can see why felixthecat and PETA haven't jumped on the cops for killing this one. They're too human to care about.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

what is your problem? Why do you hate animals so much. What sort of issues do you have? Don't scapegoat your issues on those poor innocent animals and deal with them. This incident would never have happened if people would just leave animals alone. Let them be.

Guest

I love animals and I love humans, but I hate zealots and extremists. If I pick on you here, it's only because I want to see you learn a bit of humility. We've been utilizing and eating animals since the beginning of civilization. Humans, if nothing else are creatures of habit, so nothing is going to change that. Once you've resigned yourself to this fact, you'll become much happier and won't feel the need to unethically splash blood on someone's coat.

chopp3r

Why aren't you on the bedbug thread defending the bedbugs?

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

why aren't you doing something good instead of criticizing people who at least do something?

pete

If you can't pick up the wild animal when its naughty, its not a wild animal for your home.

Huffy6241

Billy Joe McKay* never had problems like this.

*Awesome obscure reference that is appropriate in this instance.

Nick S

Don't point out your own obscure reference, doofus.

simcitymayor

Well behaved chimps rarely make history.

JRod5417

This entire incident is utterly horrific. One hopes the neighbor pulls through, but those are some gruesome injuries to survive and live with. Based on the prior incident, the owner should have been criminally charged.

Wza

On the next, When Animals Attack!

Spirit of 76

NYC won't even let people own ferrets and somehow Connecticut allows this kind of dangerous beast? As others have written above, most animals can never be fully domesticated and the amount of damage that a grown chimp can do is terrifying.