Chimp Who Mauled Woman Once Bit Another

Woman Says Travis Did It In '96; Spark Of Recent Attack Unclear; He Was Kept As Pet For Years By A Connecticut Woman

(CBS/ AP)  The same 200-pound chimp who was fatally shot this week after a vicious attack on his owner's friend, leaving her with gruesome bite wounds, also bit a woman in 1996, the woman said in an interview broadcast Thursday.

The woman, Leslie Mostel-Paul, said Travis the chimp bit her hand and tried to pull her into a vehicle as she greeted him. She said she complained to the chimp's owner and to police.

Travis was killed Monday after severely wounding his owner's friend, 55-year-old Charla Nash. Nash remained hospitalized Thursday with critical injuries to her face and hands.

"I honestly believe if they had followed through, maybe the laws would have been changed sooner and this other woman wouldn't be in the hospital, fighting for her life now," said Mostel-Paul, a former Stamford resident who lives in Atlanta.

Mostel-Paul did not return a call from The Associated Press Thursday seeking comment.

Owner Sandra Herold, who raised the chimpanzee from its infancy, has said he was a loving pet whose behavior Monday was completely out of character. She said the chimp combed her hair each night and slept in her bed, and she fed him steak and lobster. He was the mascot for her towing business, which Nash managed.

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 says she keeps re-living the horror of her pet attacking her best friend.

"It's a tragedy on both parts, for my friend and for him and me," Herold, a widow, told reporters. "He was my life. I raised him since he was three-and-a-half weeks old."

Meanwhile, an animal control officer, Lynn DellaBianca, said Thursday she spoke to Herold in 2003 after Travis escaped Herold's vehicle and frolicked in downtown Stamford traffic. DellaBianca, who ran Stamford's animal shelter at the time, said she warned Herold that the pet's mischievous behavior was worrisome and that she needed to make sure he was kept under control.

"Certainly my concern was for public safety," DellaBianca told The Associated Press. "Male chimpanzees, once they reach maturity, can be aggressive. I'm sure I did express that to her."

Herold said she expected to eventually have to give up the chimp, DellaBianca said.

"She did say that herself. She knew someone day he would probably have to go to a sanctuary," DellaBianca said. "She knew chimpanzees, they can get more difficult to handle as they get older."

Authorities have not said whether Herold will face criminal charges. State law allowed her to own the 14-year-old chimp as a pet, though several state leaders are calling for tighter restrictions in the wake of the latest attack.

Police 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, police Capt. Richard Conklin said Wednesday.

University of Connecticut researchers also performed a necropsy on the chimp, but results aren't expected to be available for several weeks.

Doctors at Stamford Hospital said Wednesday that it took four teams of surgeons more than seven hours to stabilize Nash. Hand specialists, plastic surgeons and specialists in orthopedics, ophthalmology and trauma have treated Nash, who has made slight progress but remained in critical condition, Dr. Kevin Miller said.

Herold's voice was filled with fear and horror in 911 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!"

She told reporters she grabbed a knife and stabbed her beloved pet. "For me to do something like that, put a knife in him, was like putting one in myself, and then he turned around and was like, 'Mom, what did you do?" '

[newslink]

Two things came to my mind upon hearing this terrible news. One, maybe it was the side effacts of the medication that the owner gave him. Two, If the animal felt threated or had envy toward the woman. That may have set it off. One point that we all learned from this. That Wild Animals should be in their own habitat. Not treated like a child.

[etincelles]

Wild animals and human beings should not be to close. Stop kissing your dogs and your cats.

[newsjunky5]

"The conservatives (rednecks, christians, ***) would have harassed the chimp becuase they can''t deal with change and reality; the chimp being angered by this would pull off the face of every conservative that came to the door."
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I don't frequent NASCAR, hockey games, or cage fighting, but I'd pay good money for a ticket to that show.

[jkhagemann]

If the woman and the Chimp would of been allowed to get married, none of this would of happened. Come on liberals, there should be inter-species marriages.

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Posted by hunterdon6 at 05:04 PM : Feb 19, 2009

Nope still would have happened. The conservatives (rednecks, christians, ***) would have harassed the chimp becuase they can't deal with change and reality; the chimp being angered by this would pull off the face of every conservative that came to the door.

[newsjunky5]

Two more points:
1)Elmo's eyes also look like they're out of their sockets. Travis may have been trying to follow suit with the visitor.
2)Previous posters have neglected to mention the best part of the Lancelot Link show... the secret entrance coffee table, which dumped everything off of it whenever a chimp left/arrived.

[newsjunky5]

"These are the only animals outside of Humans that kill others just for the sake of killing."
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I beg to differ. I read an account of a family that rescued/studied orangutans. When a new one was brought into their camp, and received much attention, an older, established resident orangutan got jealous and drowned the newcomer in the river.
And also, if a pit bull attacks and kills someone, but doesn't eat them too, doesn't that count?

[hunterdon6]

If the woman and the Chimp would of been allowed to get married, none of this would of happened. Come on liberals, there should be inter-species marriages.

[newsjunky5]

Maybe it was the Elmo doll she held up to him. Elmo looks a little like a chimp but he's red - like a chimp would look if it was turned inside-out. Maybe this struck terror into Travis' heart. I may go to the zoo and hold up an Elmo doll towards a (caged)chimp and see if there's a reaction.
At any rate, people should be held responsible for anything their pet does, regardless of their remorse after the fact, or the type of animal it is.

[willnotyield]

Here is a excert from the biography of Jane Goodall:

In 1974 what Goodall referred to as a "war" broke out between two groups of chimpanzees. One group eventually succeeded in killing many members of the other group. Goodall also witnessed a series of acts of infanticide on the part of one of the mature female chimps. These revelations of the darker side of chimpanzee behavior forced her to revise her interpretation of these animals as being fundamentally gentle and peace-loving.

These are the only animals outside of Humans that kill others just for the sake of killing. When male chimps reach puberty, no matter how well trained, will always lean toward violence in order show strength and status. If something gets killed in the process then status is heightened in the troups eyes.

[msay3]

This was a horrible thing that happened...Can you imagine waking up with no face (blind) and no hands? I don't think I'd even want to wake up to that.....Chimpanzees are very dangerous, violent animals...I blame the lawmakers who passed the law, but allowed her to "grandfather in" the Chimpanzee....Those laws are implemented for a reason, and now we know why...