Connecticut Votes To Ban Chimps As Pets

Connecticut's General Assembly voted yesterday to ban chimpanzees, as well as other primates, as pets. This comes nearly three months after a Stamford woman was severely mauled by her friend's pet chimp—Charla Nash "lost her nose, lips, eyelids, hands and bone structure in her mid-face and suffered significant brain, eye and tissue injuries in the attack." The Hartford Courant reports, the "bill would add only gorillas, chimps and orangutans to the list of wild animals already prohibited under existing state law: lions, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, ocelots, bobcats and other big, wild cats — as well as wolves, coyotes and bears." An earlier version of the bill, which included animals like "baboons, kangaroos, wolverines, hyenas, elephants, hippos, alligators, crocodiles, rattlesnakes, cobras and pythons," was stalled because apparently ferrets are related to wolverines, causing concern among ferret owners. Last month, Nash's family said on the Today show that she will need at least two more years of hospital care.