Posted on 03/07/2005 2:08:43 PM PST by holymoly
A man who was severely mauled by two chimpanzees at an animal sanctuary last week was quickly overwhelmed when the apes attacked, his wife said Monday.
"One was at his head, one was at his foot. But all that time ... he was trying to reason with them," a sobbing LaDonna Davis told ABC's "Good Morning America." "I couldn't do anything."
Davis, 64, and her husband, St. James Davis, were visiting Animal Haven Ranch near Bakersfield on Thursday when two male chimps escaped their enclosure and attacked the couple.
"When we made eye contact, the charge was on," LaDonna Davis said. "There was no stopping anything, and the big chimp came around from behind me and pushed me into my husband. The male came around from behind and chomped off my thumb. ... My husband must have realized we were in deep trouble because he pushed me backward. At that time, they both went for him."
St. James Davis, 62, lost all the fingers from both hands, an eye, part of his nose, cheek, lips and part of his buttocks in the ferocious attack, his wife said over the weekend on NBC's "Today Show." She also said one of his feet was mutilated. A Kern County Sheriff's commander also said his genitals were mauled.
St. James Davis was being treated at Loma Linda University Medical Center, where doctors said his condition was "minute by minute," his wife said Monday.
"Right now what they are trying to do is keep his breathing constant," she said. "That's all they can tell me, but I told him that he can't leave me. He has to be strong."
The Davises were visiting the sanctuary to celebrate the birthday of Moe — a 39-year-old chimpanzee who was taken from their home in West Covina, a Los Angeles suburb, after biting off part of a woman's finger in 1999.
Authorities were continuing to investigate how the two chimps, named Ollie and Buddy, got loose. Both were shot and killed during the attack.
They got the headline from a DUh thread. :^)
No, that's where DU get their threads from.
Maybe Ollie and Buddy "evolved" too fast for their own good.
I must say, this is pretty awful. And you have to give the guy credit for protecting his wife.
There's something comical about trying to reason with chimpanizees, sort of like leftists thinking they can reason with Arab terrorists. But this is really horrible.
When around critters, I prefer being the top predator. Depending on likely adversaries, .223, .270 or .375 ought to do the trick.
With chimps, .45 Auto shoulda worked fine at close quarters.
12 Guage 3.5" 4's work too.
Stay safe, stay armed.
Sounds like those chimps were havin' a ball.
Kramer: Yeah, but before I met up with her, I stopped to look at the monkeys, when all of a sudden I am hit in the face with a banana peel. I turn and look and there is this monkey really laughing it up. Then someone tells me that he did it. Well, I pick up the banana peel and I wait for that monkey to turn around. And then I *whap* let him have it.
Jerry: Kramer, you threw a banana peel at a monkey?
Kramer: Well, he started it!
Jerry: It's a monkey, Kramer!
Kramer: Well, he pushed my buttons, I couldn't help it, Jerry.
Jerry: Well, I still think it's wrong.
Kramer: Alright, alright, fine. You take the monkey's side, alright, go ahead.
Jerry: I'm not
*************
These poor people. This is truly awful.
you have the right attitude. Definitely need to be armed to even things out. I feel sorry for the guy, all his fingers are gone.
liberals try to reason with everything: trees, bugs, chimps,North Koreans, Islamofacist, makes no difference.
they're all morons.
>>How do you "reason" with wild animals?<<
Wild guess, but I'm betting they're Kerry supporters...
I have worked around chimps. And I have been charged by chimps. believe me, it works
It wasn't a situation in which he should have expected to need to carry protection. Coulda happened to anybody.
Up in the mountains or out in the field though, I'm going to carry.
Sounds like the couple that were communing with grislies and were subsequently eaten
Freudian slip? They were communing with grizzlies, and the results were grisly.
yes, when we first saw that, we commented that being killed would certainly befall them. Bears have no empathy with anyone
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