California chimp attack leaves man in critical condition

Last Updated Fri, 04 Mar 2005 14:04:36 EST

CALIENTE, CALIF. - Two chimpanzees broke free from their cage at a California animal sanctuary Thursday, chewing off most of a 62-year-old man's face and biting his wife.

The couple, St. James and LaDonna Davis, had been visiting their former pet chimp Moe at the Animal Haven Ranch. Moe had been removed from their Los Angeles home in 1999 for aggressive behaviour.

The couple, who had brought a birthday cake to Moe, were standing outside his cage when two other chimps in an adjoining cage, Buddy and Ollie, attacked.

Sanctuary officials say they don't know how Buddy and Ollie escaped from their cage.

Hospital officials say St. James Davis is in critical condition with massive injuries to his face, arm and leg. His testicles and a foot were severed and he will require extensive surgery to re-attach his nose.

His wife, LaDonna, was bitten on the hand while trying to save her husband.

The son-in-law of the sanctuary owner shot and killed Buddy and Ollie.

Two other female chimps in the cage with them also escaped, but were captured five hours later and returned to the enclosure.

Ouch! I smell new Disney movie.

Yep! those "cute little" chimps aren't so cute! I had a friend of mine, (he owned a zoo) his, "frindly pet" chimp Micheal, picked him up one time and threw him across the cage! Luckly that's the only thing he did...

Their "Pet" chimp Moe was in the sanctuary because he bit a woman's finger off years ago. Caliente is about 25 miles from here so it's been the number 1 story on the news here.

Planet Of The Apes 6, 7, 8, Oh I forget.
Coming soon to a theater near you.

I thought it was interesting those chimps singled the man out as a threat. Just a reminder that there is a lot more dangerousnes to our animal "friends" out there than most people believe. Thanks to Disney, of course.

Still, they will never understand why we hunt.

Ann,

An intersting topic. And interesting as you say that the chimps singled out the man. Just goes to show that they are "intelligent" enough to deduce who was the bigger potential threat, and took him out first.

I also think that beside Disney, many nature films/documentories about chimps are a bit misleading too. And although people like Jane Goodall have done amazing work with these animals, the downsides of chimp behaviour is often ignored in the films which portray how "smart" the chimps are, showing them using straws as utensils to eat termites etc.

I can honostly say that I felt far more comfortable a couple of meters away from a huge silverback gorilla in the wild, than I did with chimps in the wild. The chimps were very aggressive, and it was obvious that they were potentially more dangerous than the gorillas due to their very differant mentality.

News report tonight said they chewed off one of his feet and his TESTICLES !!!!

There was a reason the Tarzan movies always used immature and baby chimps. Hey most "urban plastic monkeys" wouldn't know it was only a baby chimp anyway. The adults are dangerous and violent.

That is a frightening story.

Interviews with the local people who were on scene and the man's wife reported that the injured man and his wife were having a birthday party for their chimp and the other chimps seemed to react when they saw the group eating birthday cake. Four chimps (2 male and 2 female) escaped their cage and the two male chimps attacked the group. The man reportedly stepped in front of his wife to protect her and took the brunt of the attack. After they got him down on the ground, the chimps gnawed his foot, testicles and face off. The wife was injured on the hands when she was trying to get the chimps off of her husband. When the son in law of the sanctuary owner came on scene he had a 45 in his hand but realizing how severe the attack was went back inside to reload with heavier ammunition. He killed both male chimps as one of them continued to attack the man and the other stood over him making threatening gestures. The pet chimp "Moe" apparenty took no part in the attack nor did it try to defend the couple. Sanctuary workers gathered up the man's nose and privates and put them on ice in case they could be re-attached.

The two female chimps who escaped with the males wandered around the hills for a few hours. One had to be sedated and loaded into a truck and the other wandered around until it found a family walking down a nearby road. It apparently waited with them until it was picked up by the authorities who were looking for it.

ErikD: I belive a collegue of Jane Goodall got an ear bitten of by a chimp. It was even captured on film.

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:
Still, they will never understand why we hunt.

Ann,
Still, the reason why we hunt have not much to do with dangeroursnes of various animals... Sure not what you meant either, but it could be seen that way. Or am I wrong..?

Regards,
Martin