02-17-2009, 09:28 PM
Sorry Speng I was trying to delete the dupilcate post and chopped the whole thread.
A 200-pound domesticated chimpanzee which once starred in TV commercials has been 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, stabbed it and hit it with a shovel after it inexplicably attacked her friend Charla Nash.
The 55-year-old victim had gone to the home in Stamford to help her friend coax the chimp back into the house after he got out, said police. After the animal lunged at Ms Nash when she got out of her car, Ms Herold ran inside to call authorities and returned armed with a knife.
Stamford Police Captain Richard Conklin said: "She retrieved a large butcher's knife and stabbed her longtime pet numerous times in an effort to save her friend, who was really being brutally attacked."
Ms Herold told police the knife had no effect and that she had also struck Travis with a shovel.
Ms Nash was in critical condition following surgery for what Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy called "life-changing, if not life-threatening," injuries to her face and hands.
Cpt Conklin said it is not known what triggered the attack, but chimpanzee had been suffering from Lyme disease "so maybe from the medications he was out of sorts".
Travis ran away after the initial attack but returned and went after several police officers, who retreated into their cars.
An officer shot Travis several times after the animal opened the door to his cruiser and started to get in.
"The animal had cornered him," said Cpt Conklin. "He had no other recourse."
A 200-pound domesticated chimpanzee which once starred in TV commercials has been 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, stabbed it and hit it with a shovel after it inexplicably attacked her friend Charla Nash.
The 55-year-old victim had gone to the home in Stamford to help her friend coax the chimp back into the house after he got out, said police. After the animal lunged at Ms Nash when she got out of her car, Ms Herold ran inside to call authorities and returned armed with a knife.
Stamford Police Captain Richard Conklin said: "She retrieved a large butcher's knife and stabbed her longtime pet numerous times in an effort to save her friend, who was really being brutally attacked."
Ms Herold told police the knife had no effect and that she had also struck Travis with a shovel.
Ms Nash was in critical condition following surgery for what Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy called "life-changing, if not life-threatening," injuries to her face and hands.
Cpt Conklin said it is not known what triggered the attack, but chimpanzee had been suffering from Lyme disease "so maybe from the medications he was out of sorts".
Travis ran away after the initial attack but returned and went after several police officers, who retreated into their cars.
An officer shot Travis several times after the animal opened the door to his cruiser and started to get in.
"The animal had cornered him," said Cpt Conklin. "He had no other recourse."