Chimp Attack

[Maddsmoltz]

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jvlkKth37Fp__GL6KYdl2b1s6dBgD96D13000

What is wrong with some people and how is it legal for her to own a chimp?

 

[shortnsweet]

I think the worst part is that the last paragraph. Just because the chimp does some things that are human, doesn't mean it is always going to react rationally. While I feel bad for the woman, that's just not fair to the chimp.

 

[DreamComeTrue09]

i was watching t.v. when my program was interrupted by breaking news in stamford about a chimp on the loose...lol...i was tempted to check it out since it was only 10 minutes or so from my house! I decided not to..lol...i probably would have cried for the chimp when they shot him, even though he mauled a woman and cornered an officer 😱 One of my neighbors often walked the neighborhood with his pet monkey until one day police knocked on his door.

 

[Maddsmoltz]

I think the worst part is that the last paragraph. Just because the chimp does some things that are human, doesn't mean it is always going to react rationally. While I feel bad for the woman, that's just not fair to the chimp.

Yeah, I read another story-and apparently he was a "hollywood" type chimp. I think he was used in a movie/tv show or two. So maybe they couldn't put him in a zoo with other chimps or obviously not back in the wild, but that was not the right place for him to be retired to. What is the point of parading a chimp around in your tow truck for the rest of his life?

 

[Pandacinny]

Not all states have laws against owning non-human primates, though I wish it was banned everywhere. In MD, the law was only passed and put into effect a few years ago.

Unfortunately, they do not make good pets. They are wild animals with very specific social needs and most people just cannot meet them safely. No matter how much you train them or how long you've worked with them, they are not domesticated animals. Not to mention the fact that primates, especially old world primates, can carry many diseases transmissible to humans such as herpes B virus and tuberculosis. They present a public health risk because of it and because, as evidenced by this story, they can give nasty bites and scratches.

One of the major problems with primates is that there are few places to retire them to. Once your pet becomes too large, dangerous, or time consuming to keep, there may be nowhere to send it. Rescues are often completely full with other pets and zoos generally will not take former pets and are often full for monkeys themselves.

Dreamcometrue, I think the police did a good thing by telling your neighbor that, if he must have a monkey, he should keep it inside where other people won't be exposed to it for potential bites and etc. Again, even "nice" monkeys or small, cute monkeys are not domesticated and are not pets.

</soapbox>

 

[1Vista1Grey]

gahh... Monkeys arent Pets!! I used to work at a sanctuary who took in research and ex-pets primates.. the truely messed up ones WERENT the research guys who had electrodes surgically implanted all over their bodies.... the crazy ones who you couldnt trust whatsoever came from ex-pet situations, they also had more self mutilaion issues and stereotypical bahaviors... Not that I am a fan of primate research, but they monkeys we got from those settings were much more relaxed in our sanctuary setting than expets.. MOnkeys arent pets.. neither are bears, cougars, lions, wolves (or hybrids), racoons...!!! OK .. Got that off my chest 🙂

 

[Skillet9886]

What is wrong with some people and how is it legal for her to own a chimp?

I didn't read the article, so sorry if this is repeat information, but it was on the Today Show this morning and I caught the story there. Apparently it's not legal to own a chimp in that state (Connecticut, if I recall correctly), but it's a recent development. That particular chimp has lived there for over 10 years, and so he was grandfathered in. He used to be in Old Navy commercials.

I have issues with a lot of people owning certain exotics, but especially primates. Most people have NO IDEA what they're getting into, and even if you know everything there is to know about primate psychology, any wild animal is likely to lash out at some point. Normal behavior between chimps can, obviously, be catastrophic for a person. They were saying on the news that the chimp knew the woman he attacked and had never had a problem with her, but that she was wearing her hair differently, and they believe that contributed to the attack.

I don't think I would ever want to have a pet that risks putting me in the situation of having to stab it with a butcher knife to get it off my friend's face.

 

[sumstorm]

I agree that primates aren't pets, but did want to point out that domestication of capuchins is happening, particulary through a few service organizations. I realize the use of capuchins as service animals is hottly debated...but domestication always starts somewhere.

I really despise dealing with people who own mammalian exotics 'because they're cute and fun' or as a status symbol. The kinkajou in my pic is an animal that I reared from weaning for contact education programs at a zoo. The experiences of raising and training were amazing, but people always forget the show is half an hour.... and the animal is in a great mood and on its best behavior (or we wouldn't use it for the show.) They forget that all animals have bad days, cranky days, pained days, etc, and that most animals don't express these problem days/moments/issues very clearly.

Zoo's really can't accept these animals. They can't be incorporated in the social structure of existing populations, and maintaining an isolated animals goes against the principles of many zoo's...it isn't healthy for them...which means the animal has more issues and problems exhibiting and health wise. People called us thinking they were offering us something great when they wanted to dump a primate pet. We knew these animals generally hadn't had appropriate care for thier entire lifetimes, couldn't interact appropriatly with other animals, and wouldn't have the reinforcement nad training to manage the stress of education programs (where they would be kept in isolation from their species.) There just isn't the room to house, feed, and care for these animals in most zoos or sanctuaries.

 

[shortnsweet]

A longer article...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29227429/

And according to this one...the woman "didn't provoke the chimp", the chimp had Lyme's Disease and was "out of sorts", and his owner gave his anti-depressants and tea earlier in the day....i just don't understand some people's rationale about pet owning concerning exotics

Poor chimp...they make him out to be the bad guy here, when really, sunstorm, it's exactly what you said...they all have their good days, cranky days, etc...and people just don't understand the proper way of taking care of them...

 

[chris03333]

gahh... Monkeys arent Pets!! I used to work at a sanctuary who took in research and ex-pets primates.. the truely messed up ones WERENT the research guys who had electrodes surgically implanted all over their bodies.... the crazy ones who you couldnt trust whatsoever came from ex-pet situations, they also had more self mutilaion issues and stereotypical bahaviors... Not that I am a fan of primate research, but they monkeys we got from those settings were much more relaxed in our sanctuary setting than expets.. MOnkeys arent pets.. neither are bears, cougars, lions, wolves (or hybrids), racoons...!!! OK .. Got that off my chest 🙂

I just have to say that chimps are not monkeys, they are apes.

Apes and monkeys are not good pets.

There is my teaching lesson for the day😉

 

[chris03333]

A longer article...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29227429/

And according to this one...the woman "didn't provoke the chimp", the chimp had Lyme's Disease and was "out of sorts", and his owner gave his anti-depressants and tea earlier in the day....i just don't understand some people's rationale about pet owning concerning exotics

Poor chimp...they make him out to be the bad guy here, when really, sunstorm, it's exactly what you said...they all have their good days, cranky days, etc...and people just don't understand the proper way of taking care of them...

And the "anti-depressants" given are known to cause paradoxical agitation. Lyme's disease my foot...

 

[jglovicz]

Hopefully people will recognize that these exotics should not be house pets...I think what bothers me most is people trying to figure out why the chimp attacked. These people anthropomorphize that there was a reason the chimp did what it did. He's an animal with a mind of his own. It wasn't a premeditated attack, but rather a behavior. It's really too bad because people ended up injured and the animal ended up dead.

 

[StayingHopeful]

I think the whole story is sad - especially that the chimp was kept as a pet (in a residential area) and that it was shot as a result of all of this. Also, I'm surprised that a 70 year old thought she could control and "tame" a 200 lb chimp, even if it had been in commercials.

 

[DreamComeTrue09]

It was supposedly brought to the animal hospital I work at to be tested for rabies...glad I wasn't there for that!

 

[alliecat44]

Wow. So incredibly horrible. Apparently he ripped her face off, along with pieces of her arms. The poor woman is going to die a horrendously painful, awful death. The 911 call is absolutely horrifying.

I just watched the segment on the Today show (todayshow.com) and am apalled not only by the media's wondrous attitude about "how could the chimp do this?" (uh, DUH, it is a WILD ANIMAL), but about the seeming lack of remorse or concern for this woman's friend. Nowhere in the interview or the text does she mention that she feel sadness for her friend's pain, who was just trying to help HER get her freaky wild animal pet under control. Her friend who, at best, will never look like herself and need multiple, painful, reconstructive surgeries along with all of the psychological horror this incident and its disfigurement would/will cause. At worst, her friend dying an incredibly painful death.

When asked if she would do it again, the woman said yes. No mention of her friend, or the value of her "best friend's" life over that of "her son."

She is one sick woman.

 

[Skillet9886]

I just watched the segment on the Today show (todayshow.com) and am apalled not only by the media's wondrous attitude about "how could the chimp do this?" (uh, DUH, it is a WILD ANIMAL)

No, no, you misunderstood! It's not how could the chimp do this? Normal chimps are wild animals, but this chimp, he was domesticated! He was in Old Navy commercials! If being in a commercial isn't domestic, I don't know what is! He's basically Rin Tin Tin! 🙄


Yeah, the media are a bunch of idiots. Chimps should definitely not be pets. People completely ignore risks because animals are "so cute!"

 

[DocDVMD]

No, no, you misunderstood! It's not how could the chimp do this? Normal chimps are wild animals, but this chimp, he was domesticated! He was in Old Navy commercials! If being in a commercial isn't domestic, I don't know what is! He's basically Rin Tin Tin! 🙄

Haha, I certainly hope this is sarcasm (it's hard to tell on the internet...).

 

[twelvetigers]

The rolly-eyes face is the give away!