Pet Chimpanzee Shot After Mauling US Woman

This incident happened, literaly just down the street from my house. That chimp was shot because he chased and attacked the officers and rescue personel there to help the victims. The chimp was shot after opening the door to the cruiser the office was in and had to be shot. This chimp was well known in the neighborhood as well as being in commercials. The only other timehe acted up was a mischievious act of jumping out of the carhe was riding in and holding up traffic by not cooperatiing with her owner. This was a terrible tragedy for all involved but to think for one minute that the officer should be held for murder is foolish. The officer that shot him was injured severely during that attack as well and had to protect himself and any other person there to render assistance!

Zindo

Rampaging chimp was given Xanax for anxiety

Shortly before the attack, the animal was given the anti-anxiety drug Xanax because it had been agitated, the police said.

source

Could the attack have been a reaction to the new anxiety med?

I know the chimp had a history of misbehavior, but it sounds like it completely snapped this time.

Of course it had to be destroyed to protect the lives of the officer and other victims. That chimp could easily have gone on to kill, not just maim, them.




[edit on 17-2-2009 by Icarus Rising]

According to the news sources, that chimp has attacked before.

You are right, i would rather have them take it and set it in the wild corners of the planet, but lets face it, the quick fix is death.
Cheaper too.

I dont believe animals like that should be kept as pet prisoners- I dont know why people insist on such.

This is exactly why there are strict regulations regarding the keeping of wild or un-domestic animals.

But the underground for exotic animals is huge. And once they are no longer babies the wild adult comes out.

My bff was a former zookeeper and she was always rehabing exotic pets like lions, tigers and monkeys for the refuge.

Even when I worked at the partk service, after every easter, dozens of semi-adult chickesn, ducks and bunnies show up and are dumped because they no longer want to take care of them.

I would watch them dissappear everyday as they were quickly picked off by predators.

cruel...

At the very least, these people need to be tried for negligence and cruelty.

As for the chimp, it attacked the officers. Apparently the owner tried to give it xanax to settle it down.

So the officers were in the rights.
But the responsibility is the owner's. And I hope she gets slammed.

reply to post by Harlequin


In this case, the question is moot. The police officer was defending himself. Had that been a human being it would have been self defense, no question about it.

As for your philosophical question, what separates animals and humans is self-awareness. Animals can replicate human behavior in any number of ways, but the question is, are they self-aware?

There is one question that every human being asks at some point in their life: Why am I here?

As soon as your monkey can truly ask that question and truly mean to seek the answer, then they will be self aware. Until then, they are just animals.

The chimp's attack is a demonstration of self-awareness. It's an action that states it is angry and it expressed that anger. Emotion is self-awareness. How can anything feel if it can't feel for itself, and how can it feel for itself without being aware of itself? To see a lifeform that is truly not self-aware then we have to go all the way down to single celled organisms, viruses, bacteria, which will indiscriminately destroy their host even though it means their own demise. That is a lack of self-awareness.

Asking why I am here is ego, not self-awareness. A need for purpose, to not feel so small against the backdrop of a near infinite universe.

edited to add: Testing the self-awareness in other animals involves mirrors. Does the animal 'recognize' itself in a mirror. A test I read about dealing with birds, crows I believe, had a white dot placed on the crow and then a mirror placed in front of it. The crow responded to the difference in appearance. Does that make it self-aware or more aware of it's appearance? In human we call that vanity.

[edit on 17-2-2009 by TravelerintheDark]

a CNN commentator made a good point about the impossibility of ever truly domesticating a wild animal, no matter how much a person might want it to to be domesticated
coffeerama!

I think it is ridiculous when things like this make it to the news and people say "I thought we knew the monkey" or the tiger, or the lion, whatever they're messing with. It did what monkeys, tigers, and lions do. They go primal.

[edit on 17-2-2009 by projectvxn]

from what i have read on various news sites, i gather the animal was ill and was on drugs for Lymes Disease??

i think its a real shame and i feels so sad for this animal.

we humans do not like being hassled or disturbed when we have a bad flu or something and this poor animal is being paraded about with a serious disease. it probably felt tired, humiliated, very ill and very annoyed at being bound by human grasp.

As much as i feel for this woman, and it must be horrifying, at the end of the day its a wild animal just like any other. an animal thats not supposed to be naturally in these situations, so its always going to end up like this im afraid.

poor beast

natives getting restless now...
mutiny in the air!
got some death to do!



-

reply to post by projectvxn


project....Chimps are, I think, vegetarian (could be wrong)...oh, except for the occasional ant or termite....

But, of course, big cats are carniverous by nature.

Yet people (some people) want exotic 'pets' (see "Siegfried and Roy" for exotic pets gone bad...)

I have had cats....I love 'em. They bite, playfully sometimes....but a domestic cat isn't likely going to crush my skull.

Same with a mature Chimp....four times the strength (or more) of a Human, with the intellectual capacity of a 4-year-old....bad idea.

I hate to see any sentient animal be killed unneccesarily.....but if an adult pit bull was mauling a child, or an adult....the dog has to die. I love dogs too, but.....in that situation, with a Chimp attacking the woman, then turning on the officers....would you shoot the woman???

Murder? Rubbish!

reply to post by sos37


sos37...may I expound on that concept you raised??


Because, it gave me an insight. Is the capacity to decide to sacrifice oneself, for another, a sign of self-awareness....or is it instinct?

Factoring out the obvious 'Mother Bear' protecting her cubs scenario....is it purely Human to be able to make that decision...not for a 'cub', or a child, or even a loved one....but simply as a strategy...."The needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the One" concept?

Hate to impose a quote from 'Star Trek', but it popped into my mind as pertinent. Is there any other species on our Planet that would be able to reason in such a way???

EDIT....I see you're offline...well, anyone can chime in!!!



[edit on 2/17/0909 by weedwhacker]

Bonobos are Canibals

In three separate instances, the primates were observed successfully hunting and eating other primates' infants, after they've had enough fruits to eat...

...But scientists supervising some populations in the LuiKotale region of the Salonga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, witnessed with amazement as packs of bonobos hunted down, killed, and then ate mangabey offspring three times, before daring to report this discovery to the international community.

More on our friends the Chimps

previously thought gentle females are equally aggressive, but it's a common practice to kill and eat the babies of other females...

...Jane Goodall was the first to observe this infamous female behavior in 1976 in a cannibalistic mother-daughter duo, the chimpanzees being named Passion and Pom...

...A team led by comparative psychologist Simon Townsend at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland witnessed a cruel infanticide: a bleeding mother with a one-week-old baby was chased by six females, five of which with clinging offspring themselves.
In 10 minutes, after a noisy struggle, the infant was taken and killed with a bite.

Chimps and War?

In 1998, researchers in Uganda saw a group of male chimpanzees beating on and swaggering around another male chimp’s freshly killed body. Its windpipe, fingernails and testicles were torn out.

The finding added to a growing number of documented incidents of chimpanzees ganging up on, hunting down and killing each other—activities in which some researchers find eerie parallels to human war.

Chimp Chews Off Mans Face

Several chimps broke free and went on the rampage causing serious injuries to St. James Davis and his wife who were visiting the center to celebrate the birthday of one of the chimps they had donated.

Officials told reporters that Davis suffered serious injuries as the monkeys chewed most of his face off and that he would have to undergo surgery to have his nose attached. His wife suffered a bite to the hand.

More about the above.

The chimps chewed off St. James Davis' nose and severely mauled his genitals and limbs Thursday before the son-in-law of the sanctuary's owner shot the animals to death, authorities said.

A good article.

Today, we know that chimpanzees everywhere eat mainly fruit, but are also predators in their forest ecosystems. In some sites the quantity of meat eaten by a chimpanzee community may approach one ton annually...

...After three decades of research on the hunting behavior of chimpanzees at Gombe, we already know a great deal about their predatory patterns. We know that although chimpanzees have been recorded to eat more than 35 types of vertebrate animals (Uehara 1997), the most important vertebrate prey species in their diet is the red colobus monkey...

...Jane Goodall has noted that the Gombe chimpanzees tend to go on "hunting crazes," during which they would hunt almost daily and kill large numbers of monkeys and other prey (Goodall 1986). The explanation for such binges has always been unclear...

The owner clearly is the only person liable for anything. The Officer was clearly doing the right thing.

reply to post by weedwhacker


Didn't say it was murder. I'm just saying that when messing with any animal one should have a reasonable expectation that said animal will lose its patience.

Originally posted by sos37

As for your philosophical question, what separates animals and humans is self-awareness. Animals can replicate human behavior in any number of ways, but the question is, are they self-aware?

There is one question that every human being asks at some point in their life: Why am I here?

Yeah, but some people only ask "why am I here?" when they are at the grocery store without a list.

Not every human is deeply introspective. Trust me on that one.

And chimps are capable of self awareness, and they also have a "theory of mind" in which they are able to understand that another creature is also thinking.

The standard test for animal self awareness uses a colored spot placed on the animal and a mirror.

en.wikipedia.org...

Humans are not the only creatures who are self-aware. Thus far, there is evidence that bottlenose dolphins, some apes, [1] and elephants have the capacity to be self aware.[2] Recent studies from the Goethe University Frankfurt show that Magpies may also possess self-awareness. [3] Common speculation suggests that some other animals are self-aware.[citation needed]

I think it is a shame the whole thing had to happen. I do understand why people are attracted to exotic pets. But the price is far too high for the animal to pay for ones amusement. I dont see what the mystery regarding his bad behavior is. I think the details provide the whole story. Male primate, 15 years old, trying to take the car. The poor guy probably needed to get laid.

reply to post by projectvxn


Have to right there, project!!!

Still, here....learning the clever....I keep aiming for the exact, and dull. Poor me....

reply to post by Harlequin


No, the police had the right to shoot the chimp... lets not get into a philosophical conversation about this.

If a human were to have done what the Chimp was doing the same outcome would have been achieved. And the Cop would not be charged for anything since the human involved would have been deamed psychotic.

Originally posted by weedwhacker


Because, it gave me an insight. Is the capacity to decide to sacrifice oneself, for another, a sign of self-awareness....or is it instinct?

You mean like this?



I think clearly this guy risked his own life for his pal. And didnt even use his teeth to do it. He pulled him with his paws.

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


OK....I love the notion....but....I got caught into believing a few 'Viral Videos' in my day....and, I have to call...'fowl' (or is it 'bark")? on this one.

The crashing airplane at the 'airshow' was more convincing CGI. AND, it didn't have that stupid Russian soundtrack!!!!!!!

EDIT....I stll love dogs....and cats....and young chimps, but they get nasty when they're older, start to bite....I'll stick with cats...and the occasional dog....IF he doesn't bite....and has short hair, because I hate sweeping up the long hairs....

Edit....even though I DIDN'T edit.....I still like cats....I miss my dead cat....he lived to be fourteen, ya know!

Humour....not easy.

SO, two men walk into a bar......(wait for it).....the third one ducked.

OK, three shows a week, I'm outtah here!



[edit on 2/18/0909 by weedwhacker]

reply to post by weedwhacker


Lol. Dont just cry fowl. Google it. It made the MSM, so if it is a hoax, it took in more than a few. Even the dog whisperer was interviewed for it. I just couldnt find a Good English version on Youtube in short order.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

SANTIAGO, Chile - Chilean officials say they have lost hope of finding a dog whose attempted rescue of an injured animal inspired worldwide admiration.