Calif. couple mauled by apes

[igloo]

'Vicious animals'
Calif. man still critical after being mauled by apes who may have been driven by jealousy of another

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BY DAVID PIERSON AND MITCHELL LANDSBERG
LOS ANGELES TIMES; The Los Angeles Times is a Tribune Co. newspaper.

March 6, 2005

HAVILAH, Calif. - St. James and LaDonna Davis raised Moe the chimp as their son. That was the word they used to describe him, and that was how they treated him - like a hairy, rambunctious child who was a pampered member of the family.

They taught him to wear clothes, to take showers, to use the toilet and to watch TV in their West Covina, Calif., home.

On Thursday, the day they marked as Moe's 39th birthday, their love for the chimp nearly cost them their lives.

The Davises were visiting Moe at an animal sanctuary in the hills of eastern Kern County - a place to which he had been banished after biting a woman - when they were attacked by two other chimps and brutally mauled.

St. James Davis, 62, took the brunt of the attack, the ferocity of which left paramedics stunned.

"I had no idea a chimpanzee was capable of doing that to a human," said Kern County Fire Capt. Curt Merrell, who was among the first on the scene.



Grievous injuries

Davis, who remained in critical condition, was badly disfigured. He lost all the fingers from both hands, an eye, part of his nose, cheek and lips, and part of his buttocks. Other injuries included a mutilated foot and cracked heel bone.

"They don't think he's ever going to be the same," LaDonna Davis said Friday evening, her voice strong but her hands shaking.

LaDonna, 61, said she was sitting at a table with her husband, getting ready to cut the chimp's birthday cake, when she saw the two other chimps out of the corner of her eye. Moe, according to other accounts, was still in his cage.

"I turned around and they started charging," she said. One of the chimps pushed her against her husband and at some point her left thumb was bit off, she said.

"James saw that, pushed me behind a table and took the brunt of everything else," she said.

The attack ended when the son-in-law of the sanctuary's owners shot and killed the two rampaging chimps. Moe was uninjured.

"He stayed out of this one," said Steve Martarano of the California Department of Fish and Game.

The chimps were housed in outdoor cages at the Animal Haven Ranch, a private sanctuary. The ranch is owned by Ralph and Virginia Brauer, and has been licensed by the state since 1996 to take in primates, usually from zoos that no longer want them.



First escape, then attack

According to Kern County Sheriff's Commander Hal Chealander, Virginia Brauer was home Thursday morning when she was startled by four chimps - two young males and two older females - who had gotten out of their cages and entered the house.

She reportedly detained the two females, Suzie, 59, and Bones, 49. The male chimps - Buddy, 15, and Ollie, 13 - escaped. Virginia Brauer gave chase, and soon found the chimps mauling the Davises, Chealander said.

"Get your gun!" Brauer yelled to her son-in-law, Mark Carruthers, Chealander said.

Male chimps usually stand about 4 feet tall and weigh 90 to 120 pounds, experts say. They are strong and aggressive animals who routinely kill and devour much larger animals in the wild. Their upper body strength is five to 10 times that of the average human.

"These are vicious, vicious animals that can pick you up and throw you across the room," said veterinarian Tom Jenkins.

Buddy was the primary attacker, according to Chealander. The younger animal, Ollie, "was looking very aggressive and running around."

Carruthers shot Ollie, with no apparent effect. He reloaded the gun with more powerful ammunition, this time turning on Buddy.

Carruthers "kneeled down, got pretty close and shot the first chimp in the head," Chealander said. "When he fell off Mr. Davis, the second chimp attacked Mr. Davis and dragged him down a walkway by the back of the house. . . . By this time, Mr. Davis was really torn up."

Carruthers followed and shot the second chimp.



A shaken couple

Chealander said the Brauers were shaken by the attack. Virginia Brauer, he recalled, "kept saying, 'I don't understand. We never had a problem.'"

Officials said they have no idea why the chimps attacked the Davises. But ape expert Deborah Fouts, director of the Chimp and Human Communication Institute at Central Washington University, said the attack may have been prompted by an emotion that chimps may share with humans: jealousy.

"Chimpanzees have a real sense of right and wrong and fairness and unfairness," said Fouts, a veteran of four decades of work with chimps. "It sounds like people were showering a lot of attention on Moe, birthday cake and the like. . . . Perhaps the other chimps were jealous of Moe."

[fresinha12]

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Originally Posted by igloo

'Vicious animals'
Calif. man still critical after being mauled by apes who may have been driven by jealousy of another

Email this story
Printer friendly format

BY DAVID PIERSON AND MITCHELL LANDSBERG
LOS ANGELES TIMES; The Los Angeles Times is a Tribune Co. newspaper.

March 6, 2005

HAVILAH, Calif. - St. James and LaDonna Davis raised Moe the chimp as their son. That was the word they used to describe him, and that was how they treated him - like a hairy, rambunctious child who was a pampered member of the family.

They taught him to wear clothes, to take showers, to use the toilet and to watch TV in their West Covina, Calif., home.

On Thursday, the day they marked as Moe's 39th birthday, their love for the chimp nearly cost them their lives.

The Davises were visiting Moe at an animal sanctuary in the hills of eastern Kern County - a place to which he had been banished after biting a woman - when they were attacked by two other chimps and brutally mauled.

St. James Davis, 62, took the brunt of the attack, the ferocity of which left paramedics stunned.

"I had no idea a chimpanzee was capable of doing that to a human," said Kern County Fire Capt. Curt Merrell, who was among the first on the scene.



Grievous injuries

Davis, who remained in critical condition, was badly disfigured. He lost all the fingers from both hands, an eye, part of his nose, cheek and lips, and part of his buttocks. Other injuries included a mutilated foot and cracked heel bone.

"They don't think he's ever going to be the same," LaDonna Davis said Friday evening, her voice strong but her hands shaking.

LaDonna, 61, said she was sitting at a table with her husband, getting ready to cut the chimp's birthday cake, when she saw the two other chimps out of the corner of her eye. Moe, according to other accounts, was still in his cage.

"I turned around and they started charging," she said. One of the chimps pushed her against her husband and at some point her left thumb was bit off, she said.

"James saw that, pushed me behind a table and took the brunt of everything else," she said.

The attack ended when the son-in-law of the sanctuary's owners shot and killed the two rampaging chimps. Moe was uninjured.

"He stayed out of this one," said Steve Martarano of the California Department of Fish and Game.

The chimps were housed in outdoor cages at the Animal Haven Ranch, a private sanctuary. The ranch is owned by Ralph and Virginia Brauer, and has been licensed by the state since 1996 to take in primates, usually from zoos that no longer want them.



First escape, then attack

According to Kern County Sheriff's Commander Hal Chealander, Virginia Brauer was home Thursday morning when she was startled by four chimps - two young males and two older females - who had gotten out of their cages and entered the house.

She reportedly detained the two females, Suzie, 59, and Bones, 49. The male chimps - Buddy, 15, and Ollie, 13 - escaped. Virginia Brauer gave chase, and soon found the chimps mauling the Davises, Chealander said.

"Get your gun!" Brauer yelled to her son-in-law, Mark Carruthers, Chealander said.

Male chimps usually stand about 4 feet tall and weigh 90 to 120 pounds, experts say. They are strong and aggressive animals who routinely kill and devour much larger animals in the wild. Their upper body strength is five to 10 times that of the average human.

"These are vicious, vicious animals that can pick you up and throw you across the room," said veterinarian Tom Jenkins.

Buddy was the primary attacker, according to Chealander. The younger animal, Ollie, "was looking very aggressive and running around."

Carruthers shot Ollie, with no apparent effect. He reloaded the gun with more powerful ammunition, this time turning on Buddy.

Carruthers "kneeled down, got pretty close and shot the first chimp in the head," Chealander said. "When he fell off Mr. Davis, the second chimp attacked Mr. Davis and dragged him down a walkway by the back of the house. . . . By this time, Mr. Davis was really torn up."

Carruthers followed and shot the second chimp.



A shaken couple

Chealander said the Brauers were shaken by the attack. Virginia Brauer, he recalled, "kept saying, 'I don't understand. We never had a problem.'"

Officials said they have no idea why the chimps attacked the Davises. But ape expert Deborah Fouts, director of the Chimp and Human Communication Institute at Central Washington University, said the attack may have been prompted by an emotion that chimps may share with humans: jealousy.

"Chimpanzees have a real sense of right and wrong and fairness and unfairness," said Fouts, a veteran of four decades of work with chimps. "It sounds like people were showering a lot of attention on Moe, birthday cake and the like. . . . Perhaps the other chimps were jealous of Moe."