Booze, drugs and chimps don't mix

Subject: Booze, drugs and chimps don't mix

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."