Travis the Chimp

UPDATE, December 7, 2009: AP source: No charges planned in Conn. chimp case

A Connecticut prosecutor does not plan to charge the owner of a chimpanzee that mauled and blinded a woman in February.
A person with direct knowledge of the investigation tells The Associated Press that no charges are planned against Sandra Herold, of Stamford.

State's Attorney David Cohen has refused to comment ahead of a news conference scheduled for Monday afternoon.

The 200-pound chimpanzee went berserk after Herold asked victim Charla Nash to help lure him back into her house. The chimp ripped off Nash's hands, nose, lips and eyelids.

Nash's family is suing Herold for $50 million and wants to sue the state for $150 million.

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We have a new president breaking promises left and right.

We've had a so-called economic stimulus bill that amounts to the fulfillment of the Democrats' wish list for the past 40 years rammed down our throats.

The country is lurching dramatically to the Left, and the financial markets respond by tanking.

As Obama and the Democrats work to give the U.S. a European socialist makeover, the economy continues to spiral downward.

There are a lot of big stories out there.

You wouldn't think that the story of a chimp gone wild could garner so much attention right now, but it seems that many people are following the latest news about Travis more closely than the economy.

People seem to be showing more interest in the details of Travis' life and death than in the massive debt-creating, pork-infested, stimulus bill.

The New York Post has been digging up details.

Each night, Sandra Herold and her beloved chimp, Travis, would share a glass of wine before snuggling in bed together.

The Connecticut widow says she still cannot fathom how that loving animal, whom she raised as her "child," could turn violent, but when he began to maul her friend Charla Nash Monday, Herold said she didn't hesitate to stop him - even if it meant killing him.

"I had to get a shovel, then a knife to get Travis off of Charlie," the visibly shaken woman said yesterday. "It was very difficult to do this, but I had to save my friend. I am so sorry for what happened to Charlie. She is my dear friend."

The violence began shortly after Travis consumed a meal of fish and chips and then Carvel ice cream, Herold said. He then went outside and couldn't be coaxed back in. She tried to give Travis tea with Xanax to calm him, but he wouldn't drink it, she said.

Herold, 70, phoned Nash for help getting Travis back into the house.

"When she came out of her car that she doesn't normally drive, I don't think Travis recognized her," Herold said. "She was greeting him with a teddy bear, and that's when he went wild."

The accounts of the attack are so grisly.

The 911 call, released by authorities on Tuesday, is horrifying.

The story of the violent chimp is still big news. People want to learn more about Travis.

The latest reports involve Herold's retraction on giving Travis Xanax.

STAMFORD, Connecticut -- As authorities considered criminal charges against the woman whose 200-pound domesticated chimpanzee went berserk and mauled a friend, she backtracked Wednesday on whether she gave the animal the anti-anxiety drug Xanax.

Sandra Herold told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she never gave the drug to her 14-year-old chimp, Travis, who was shot dead by Stamford police Monday after he grievously wounded Herold's friend Charla Nash.

However, Herold said in an interview aired Wednesday morning on NBC television that she gave Travis the drug in some tea less than five minutes before he attacked Nash — she even showed a reporter the mug. Police have said Herold told them that she gave Travis Xanax that had not been prescribed for him earlier on Monday to calm him because he was agitated.

In humans, Xanax can lead to aggression in people who are unstable to begin with, said Dr. Emil Coccaro, chief of psychiatry at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

"Xanax could have made him worse," if human studies are any indication, Coccaro said.

The chimpanzee's rampage forced Herold to stab her beloved pet with a butcher knife and pound him with a shovel. Herold's voice was filled with fear and horror in emergency hot line tapes released by police Tuesday night.

Travis can be heard grunting as she cries for help: "He's killing my friend!"

The dispatcher says, "Who's killing your friend?"

Herold replies, "My chimpanzee! He ripped her apart! Shoot him, shoot him!"

After police arrived, one officer radioed back: "There's a man down. He doesn't look good," he says, referring to the disfigured Nash. "We've got to get this guy out of here. He's got no face."

The fact that the police officer thought Nash was a man speaks to how severe her facial injuries are. "He's got no face" is such a shocking statement.

I think that's part of the interest in the story. It's like a horror film.

It's also a mystery.

Is Herold covering up something?

First, she said she gave Travis Xanax. Then, she said she never gave him the drug.

Travis did not have a prescription for Xanax. It should be easy to find out if Travis had been given Xanax. I assume there will be a toxicology report. It would be crazy for Herold to lie about the Xanax.

Then again, living with a chimp isn't exactly typical behavior.

...Herold, a 70-year-old widow whose daughter was killed in a car accident several years ago, told the AP the chimp "was my life" and that she "never, never, never" gave it Xanax. "He never had anything but love."

Herold speculated that Travis was being protective of her when he attacked Nash, who she said was driving a different car, wearing a new hairstyle and holding an Elmo stuffed toy in front of her face as a present to the chimp.

"She had the toy in front of her. This was just a freak thing," Herold said.

I guess Travis really didn't like Elmo.

Herold is right to a certain extent about this being a "freak thing." Travis had never gone on the attack like that before.

But that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to Charla Nash. Right now, Nash must be in such agony.

Authorities are trying to determine why the chimp, a veteran of TV commercials who could dress himself, drink wine from a glass and use the toilet, suddenly attacked. A test for rabies was negative, Stamford police Capt. Richard Conklin said Wednesday.

Travis appeared in TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola when he was younger, and at home he was treated like a member of the family. Don Mecca, a family friend, said Herold fed the chimp steak, lobster, ice cream and Italian food.

Primate experts say chimpanzees are unpredictable and dangerous even after living among humans for years, but in her NBC interview, Herold rejected criticism that they are inappropriate pets.

"It's a horrible thing, but I'm not a horrible person and he's not a horrible chimp." she said.

I think the story has intrigued people because it's so weird.

Travis and Herold had a strange relationship, sharing wine and snuggling in bed together. The chimp was treated like a human. He ate better food than many humans. He dressed himself, bathed himself, and was toilet-trained.

Travis seems to have served as both a substitute child and a substitute spouse for Herold.

I think it's those strange details that keep the public coming back for more.

The line between entertainment and news is being blurred here.

It's important to remember that Charla Nash was nearly mauled to death by the chimp. Her injuries are so horrific that Herold told the 911 dispatcher that Nash was dead and the police officer declared "He has no face."

This isn't a movie. This isn't entertainment. A 55-year-old woman was almost killed during the chimp's violent rampage. Assuming she survives, there's no such thing as a full recovery from an attack like this.

I don't need more details on the chimp gone wild. I'm not comfortable with this freak show.

The media and consumers of "news" too often forget about the real life suffering involved in a bizarre story like this. This is not entertainment.