Chimpanzee attack travis photos skin#

Chimpanzee attack travis photos skin#

He stripped her nose, lips, eyes, and skin from her face. He was also familiar with Nash, so neither woman was particularly worried or wary of the unusual reaction from the chimpanzee.īut then Travis rushed into Nash and began to tear her skin. Travis has been diagnosed with Lyme disease and may have neurological consequences.Ĭhimpanzees were overwhelmingly loved by the community. Herold later slipped Xanax to help her calm down, but she admitted that she still seemed upset. Herold asked her to help bring her 'son', a 14-year-old chimpanzee named Travis, back to her home.īy the age of 14, Travis weighed over 200 pounds and felt weird that day. February 16, 2009Ĭhara Nash received a call from her friend Sandra Heroid. Travis lived almost peacefully until 2009, when police officers answered 911's desperate call to get there early because monkeys are attacking women. Travis brushed his teeth with a Water Pik, logged on to a computer to look at photos and channel-surfed television with the remote control.The TRAVIS chimpanzee was hired at the age of three by a young couple in Connecticut who were willing to fork over $ 50,000 in 1998. The unexplained attack was uncharacteristic of Travis, who could eat at the table, drink wine from a stemmed glass, use the toilet, and dress and bathe himself.ĭon Mecca, a family friend from Colchester, N.Y., said Herold fed the chimp steak, lobster, ice cream and Italian food.

'It's a horrible thing, but I'm not a horrible person and he's not a horrible chimp.' she said. She said Travis 'couldn't have been more my son than if I gave birth to him,' and rejected criticism that chimpanzees are inappropriate pets. Herold, a widow whose daughter was killed in a car accident several years ago, told Today that the incident was 'a freak thing.' The wounded chimpanzee fled into the house and retreated to his living quarters, where he died. An officer shot Travis several times after the animal opened the door to his cruiser and started to get in.

Chimp attacked police, tooīut the chimpanzee returned and went after several officers, who retreated into their cars, Conklin said. After the animal lunged at Nash when she got out of her car, Herold ran inside to call 911 and returned with a knife.Īfter the initial attack, Travis ran away and started roaming Herold's property until police arrived, setting up security so that medics could reach the critically injured woman, Conklin said. Nash had gone to Herold's home in Stamford on Monday to help her coax the chimp back into the house after he got out, police said. 'Maybe from the medications he was out of sorts,' Stamford police Capt. Investigators said they were told that Travis had Lyme disease, a tick-borne illness with flu-like symptoms that can lead to arthritis and meningitis in humans. A pet owner can be held criminally responsible if he or she knew or should have known that an animal was a danger to others. Police said they are looking into the possibility of criminal charges. Nash remained in critical condition early Wednesday with major injuries to her face and hands. 'It was horrific what happened and I had to do what I had to do, but still, I'll miss him for the rest of my life.' 'He looked at me like, 'Mom, what did you do?' ' Herold told NBC's Today show in an interview aired Wednesday. The chimp attacked Nash as Herold frantically stabbed her beloved pet with a butcher knife and pounded him with a shovel.

He doesn't look good,' he says, referring to the disfigured Nash and not realizing she was a woman. Herold replies, 'My chimpanzee! He ripped her apart! Shoot him, shoot him!'Īfter police arrive, one officer radios back: 'There's a man down. The dispatcher says, 'Who's killing your friend?' The chimp can be heard grunting at times on the tape, as Herold cries, 'He's killing my friend!' Emil Coccaro, chief of psychiatry at the University of Chicago Medical Center.Īlso on Wednesday, police released 911 tapes of Herold's desperate call as the animal, who used to star in television commercials for Coca-Cola and Old Navy, was attacking Nash. 'Xanax could have made him worse,' if human studies are any indication, said Dr. Police in Stamford, Conn., have said Herold told them that she had given Travis Xanax in some tea earlier in the day to calm him because he was agitated.Ī University of Chicago doctor says the anti-anxiety drug can lead to aggression in people who are unstable to begin with. On Monday, the animal attacked Herold's friend, 55-year-old Charla Nash, leaving her severely injured. Sandra Herold, 70, told the Associated Press Wednesday that she 'never, ever' gave the drug to her 14-year-old chimp, Travis. The owner of a 90-kilogram domesticated chimpanzee that went berserk and mauled a Connecticut woman is disputing police reports that she gave the animal the anti-anxiety drug Xanax.