Travis (chimpanzee)

Travis was born to Suzy and Coco, who were imported from Africa to the U.S. sometime in the 1970s. He was born near Festus, Missouri on October 21, 1995, at Mike and Connie Braun Casey's compound, currently named the Missouri Chimpanzee Sanctuary. In a separate incident, Suzy was fatally shot following an escape in 2001.^[10] Sandra and Jerome Herold purchased Travis for $50,000 from a breeder after he was taken from his mother when he was three days old.^[3][11] They named the chimpanzee after Sandra's favorite singer, Travis Tritt.^[12] The Herolds raised Travis at their home at Rock Rimmon Road in the North Stamford section of Stamford, Connecticut.^[13] Travis was the Herolds' constant companion and would often accompany them to work and on their shopping excursions in town.^[13] The Herolds owned a towing company, and Travis would pose for photos at the shop and ride with the tow truck, his seatbelt buckled as he wore a baseball shirt. Travis became well known in the town and had been known to greet police officers they would encounter when towing cars.^[13]

Having grown up among people, Travis had been socialized to humans since birth. A neighbor said he used to play around and wrestle with Travis. The neighbor added that the animal always knew when to stop and paid close attention to his owner. "He listened better than my nephews," the neighbor remarked after Travis had mauled Nash. "I just don't know why he would do that."^[14]

Travis could open doors using keys, dress himself, water plants, feed hay to his owners' horses, eat at a table with the rest of the family, and drink wine from a stemmed glass; he was so fond of ice cream that he learned the schedules of passing ice cream trucks. He logged onto the computer to look at pictures, watched television using a remote control, and brushed his teeth using a Water Pik.^[4][5][15] He enjoyed watching baseball on television.^[16] Travis had also driven a car on several occasions.^[11]

Jerome died from cancer in 2004, and the Herolds' only child died in a car accident in 2000; as a result, Sandra Herold regarded Travis almost as a surrogate son and pampered him.^[11][13] Sandra slept and bathed with Travis, saying after his death, "I'm, like, hollow now. He slept with me every night. Until you've eaten with a chimp and bathed with a chimp, you don't know a chimp."^[17][18]

Discover more about Socialization related topics

Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surface area. With 1.4 billion people as of 2021, it accounts for about 18% of the world's human population. Africa's population is the youngest amongst all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4. Despite a wide range of natural resources, Africa is the least wealthy continent per capita and second-least wealthy by total wealth, behind Oceania. Scholars have attributed this to different factors including geography, climate, tribalism, colonialism, the Cold War, neocolonialism, lack of democracy, and corruption. Despite this low concentration of wealth, recent economic expansion and the large and young population make Africa an important economic market in the broader global context.

Festus, Missouri

Festus, Missouri

Festus is a city situated in Jefferson County, Missouri, United States, and is also a suburb of St. Louis. It had a population of 12,706 individuals as of the 2020 census. Festus as well as its particular neighbor Crystal City are often collectively known as the "Twin Cities situation".

Travis Tritt

Travis Tritt

James Travis Tritt is an American country music singer and songwriter. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 2000s, he released three studio albums on Columbia Records and one for the now-defunct Category 5 Records. Seven of his albums are certified platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); the highest-certified is 1991's It's All About to Change, which is certified triple-platinum. Tritt has also charted more than 40 times on the Hot Country Songs charts, including five number ones—"Help Me Hold On", "Anymore", "Can I Trust You with My Heart", "Foolish Pride", and "Best of Intentions"—and 15 additional top ten singles. Tritt's musical style is defined by mainstream country and Southern rock influences.

North Stamford

North Stamford

North Stamford is an affluent section of Stamford, Connecticut, United States, north of the Merritt Parkway. Mostly woody and hilly, it is the least densely populated, and highest income section of the city with a 2021 median household income in excess of $250,000. The two main roadways in North Stamford are High Ridge Road and Long Ridge Road. North Stamford borders Pound Ridge, New York, at the New York line to the north, the "back country" section of Greenwich, Connecticut, to the west, and the Town of New Canaan, Connecticut, to the east. According to the 2010 census, North Stamford has a population of 14,904. The City of Stamford as a whole had a population of 135,470.

Stamford, Connecticut

Stamford, Connecticut

Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, 34 miles outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 census. It is in the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk-Danbury metropolitan statistical area, which is part of the New York City metropolitan area.

Tow truck

Tow truck

A tow truck is a truck used to move disabled, improperly parked, impounded, or otherwise indisposed motor vehicles. This may involve recovering a vehicle damaged in an accident, returning one to a drivable surface in a mishap or inclement weather, or towing or transporting one via flatbed to a repair shop or other location.

Ice cream

Ice cream

Ice cream is a frozen dessert, typically made from milk or cream and flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as strawberries or peaches. It can also be made by whisking a flavored cream base and liquid nitrogen together. Food coloring is sometimes added, in addition to stabilizers. The mixture is cooled below the freezing point of water and stirred to incorporate air spaces and to prevent detectable ice crystals from forming. The result is a smooth, semi-solid foam that is solid at very low temperatures. It becomes more malleable as its temperature increases.

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball that a player on the batting team, called the batter, tries to hit with a bat. The objective of the offensive team is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "runs". The objective of the defensive team is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners' advance around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate.

2003 incident

In October 2003, Travis escaped from the Herolds' car and held up traffic at a busy intersection; he was on the loose for several hours.^[19] The incident began after a pedestrian threw an empty soda bottle at the car that went through a partially open window and struck Travis while they were stopped at a traffic light.^[12] Startled, Travis unbuckled his seat belt, opened the car door and chased the man, but did not catch him. When police arrived, they lured the chimpanzee into the car several times, only to have Travis let himself out of another door and occasionally chase the officers around the car.^[13] The 2003 incident led to the passing of a Connecticut law prohibiting people from keeping primates weighing more than 50 pounds (23 kg) as pets and requiring owners of exotic pets to apply for permits. The new law took effect in 2009, and as of Travis's death in the same year, no one in the state had applied to adopt a chimpanzee. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) did not enforce the law on the Herolds because they had owned 200-pound (91 kg) Travis for so long, and the DEP did not believe Travis posed a public safety risk.^[3][20]

2009 attack

On February 16, 2009, at around 3:40 p.m., Travis attacked Sandra Herold's then 55-year-old friend, Charla Nash, inflicting devastating injuries to her face and limbs.^[21] Travis had left the house with Sandra Herold's car keys, and Nash came to help get the chimp back in the house; upon seeing Nash holding a Tickle Me Elmo, one of his favorite toys, Travis flew into a rage and attacked her.^[13] Travis was familiar with Nash, who had also worked at the Herolds' towing company, although Nash had a different hairstyle at the time of the attack, which may have also confused and alarmed him.^[22] He had been taking medication for Lyme disease.^[11] Herold attempted to stop Travis by hitting him on the head with a shovel and stabbing him in the back with a butcher knife.

Herold later said, "For me to do something like that, put a knife in him, was like putting one in myself." The chimp turned around, she said, as if to say, "'Mom, what did you do?'"^[11] The animal grew angrier. Herold, at this point, believing Nash to be dead, then rushed to her car, locked herself inside and called 9-1-1. Travis' screams can be heard in the background at the start of the tape as Herold pleads for the police, who initially believed the call to be a hoax until she said, "He's eating her!"^[23][24][25] Emergency medical services waited for police before approaching the house. When they arrived, Travis headed towards the police car, tried to open a locked passenger door, and smashed a side-view mirror. Then he went around to the driver's-side door and opened it, at which point Officer Frank Chiafari shot him four times with his service pistol.^[26] Travis retreated to the house, where he was found dead next to his cage.^[13]

Aftermath

The emergency crew described Nash's injuries as "horrendous".^[19] Within the following 72 hours, Nash underwent more than seven hours of surgery on her face and hands by four teams of surgeons. The hospital provided counseling to its staff members who initially treated her because of the extraordinary nature of Nash's wounds.^[27] Paramedics noted she lost her hands, nose, eyes, lips, and mid-face bone structure and received significant brain tissue injuries.^[28] Doctors removed chimpanzee hair and teeth that had been implanted into her bones and reattached her jaw, but announced on April 7, 2009, that Nash would be blind for life. Her injuries made her a possible candidate for an experimental face transplant surgery.^[27] After initial treatment at Stamford Hospital, Nash was transferred to the Cleveland Clinic.^[29] Her family started a trust fund to raise money to pay her "unfathomable" medical bills and support her daughter.^[30] Nash revealed her damaged face in public for the first time on The Oprah Winfrey Show on November 11, 2009. She was not at that time in physical pain from the attack, and family members said she hoped to leave the Cleveland Clinic soon.^[31] Pictures have surfaced on the Internet displaying Nash's face before and after the attack.^[32]

In accordance with standard procedure, Travis' head was taken to the state laboratory for a rabies test, and the body was taken to the University of Connecticut for a necropsy.^[4] The head tested negative for rabies,^[33] but there was Xanax (Alprazolam) remaining in his system.^[34] Necropsy results in May 2009 confirmed the chimp was overweight and had been stabbed.^[35] The remains were cremated at All Pets Crematory in Stamford on February 25, 2009.^[36] Toxicology reports confirmed Sandra's statement that she had given Travis Xanax-laced tea the day of the attack, which could have exacerbated his aggression.^[37][38] Xanax is a short-acting, potent anti-anxiety drug that can cause disinhibition and disorientation and occasionally paradoxical reactions of hallucination, aggression, rage, and mania in humans.^[39]

Shortly after the attack, a woman who had lived in the same area as Herold came forward with information that, in 1996, the chimpanzee had bitten her hand and tried to pull her into a vehicle as she greeted him.^[40] She claimed to have complained to the Herolds and to police, who stated they had no record of any such complaint.^[41] Afterward, PETA members allegedly harassed Herold, although the organization stated that it did not have any official involvement.^[42][43]

On May 24, 2010, 15 months after the attack, Sandra Herold died suddenly of a ruptured aortic aneurysm at the age of 72. Her attorney, Robert Golger, released the following statement: "Mrs. Herold had suffered a series of heartbreaking losses over the last several years, beginning with the death of her first and only daughter who was killed in a car accident, then her husband, then her beloved chimp Travis, as well as the tragic maiming of friend and employee Charla Nash. In the end, her heart, which had been broken so many times before, could take no more."^[44]

On May 28, 2011,^[45] Nash underwent transplant surgery performed by a team led by Bohdan Pomahač at Brigham and Women's Hospital, receiving a donated face and hands. The transplant of the hands was initially successful, but because Nash developed pneumonia shortly thereafter, doctors were forced to remove her newly transplanted hands 5 days after the transplant due to the infection and resulting poor circulation.^[46]

Lawsuits

In March 2009, Charla Nash's family attorney filed a $50 million lawsuit against Sandra Herold.^[47] On May 6, a Stamford judge froze Herold's assets, valued at US$10 million.^[48] Other potential defendants included the DEP, the city of Stamford, and the veterinarian who prescribed the Xanax.^[49] The defense claimed the chimp had no violent behavior before the attack, and the two accusations in the 1990s attacks were untrue because the chimp had no teeth at the time.^[50] In November 2012, Nash reached a settlement with Herold's estate and received approximately $4 million.^[51]

Nash attempted to sue the state of Connecticut in 2013 but her claim was denied. She had asserted that officials knew the animal was dangerous but did nothing about it.^[52] Nash's petition to sue was denied on the basis that at the time of the attack, no statute existed that prohibited the private ownership of a chimpanzee. In July 2013, Nash's attorneys began efforts to appeal the court's decision.^[53]

In media

News reports of the incident spread as far as China.^[54] The attack, similar to another chimpanzee attack four years earlier in California,^[55] provoked discussion about the logic of keeping such exotic animals as pets by sources such as Time magazine and primatologists Jane Goodall and Frans de Waal.^[56][57][58]

Travis' escape and the subsequent attack of Charla Nash were used as part of the "Chimps" episode of the Animal Planet 2010-2011 documentary series: Fatal Attractions. Sound from the original 9-1-1 call, radio traffic from the police shooting of Travis, and the aftermath of the hunt were used in the episode.^{[note 1]} In June 2009, American deathcore band Suicide Silence released their second album No Time to Bleed, featuring the track "...And Then She Bled", a song recreation of the 911 emergency phone call placed by Sandra Herold during the February 16, 2009 attack.^[59]

An attack similar to the incident is depicted in the 2022 film Nope,^[60] in which an animal actor chimp is startled on set and attacks its human co-stars. The young woman mauled by the chimp in the film is shown years later to wear a mesh covering over her face similar to the one worn by Nash.

Influence on legislation

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal noted that a defect in the existing 2004 Connecticut law prohibiting chimpanzees of Travis' size, itself a result of the 2003 incident, allowed the attack to occur. A Connecticut DEP spokesman clarified that Travis was exempt because he did not appear to present a public health risk and was owned before the registration requirement began. Blumenthal subsequently sent letters to legislative leaders and the DEP Commissioner, asking them to support a proposed law that would ban all potentially dangerous exotic animals, such as chimpanzees, crocodiles, and venomous snakes, from being kept in a residential setting in Connecticut. The DEP was seeking a similar law banning large primates and, after the incident, announced that it sought the help of the public, police officers, and animal control officers to report such pets to the agency.^[61] The editorial board of The Advocate newspaper in Stamford also supported banning the possession of all exotic birds and reptiles.^[62]

U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, introduced the Captive Primate Safety Act introduced on January 6, 2009, which would have added monkeys, great apes, and lemurs to the list of "prohibited wildlife species" that cannot be sold or purchased through interstate and foreign sales.^[20][63] The attack led the Humane Society of the United States to join with the Wildlife Conservation Society in supporting the Act.^[20] Travis' attack resulted in the bill's reintroduction by co-sponsor, Rep. Mark Kirk, on February 23, 2009.^[63][64] Rep. Rob Bishop argued against the bill during the floor debate, noting it would cost $4 million annually and do nothing directly to prevent chimpanzee attacks on humans. He also claimed such attacks are relatively rare.^[65] Twenty states and the District of Columbia already have laws banning primates as pets.^[66] On February 23, 2009, the House voted 323 to 95 in favor of the bill,^[65] and the editorial boards of several major newspapers, including The New York Times and Newsday, supported its passage.^[67][68] The bill was never taken up by the U.S. Senate.

Frank Chiafari—the police officer who fatally shot Travis—was initially unable to get his therapy for depression and anxiety covered after the incident. This led to legislation proposed in 2010 that would cover a police officer's compensation for mental or emotional impairment after using justifiable deadly force to kill an animal.^[69]

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Exotic pet

Exotic pet

An exotic pet is a pet which is relatively rare or unusual to keep, or is generally thought of as a wild species rather than as a domesticated pet. The definition varies by culture, location, and over time—as animals become firmly enough established in the world of animal fancy, they may no longer be considered exotic.

Lyme disease

Lyme disease

Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is a vector-borne disease caused by the Borrelia bacterium, which is spread by ticks in the genus Ixodes. The most common sign of infection is an expanding red rash, known as erythema migrans (EM), which appears at the site of the tick bite about a week afterwards. The rash is typically neither itchy nor painful. Approximately 70–80% of infected people develop a rash. Early diagnosis can be difficult. Other early symptoms may include fever, headaches and tiredness. If untreated, symptoms may include loss of the ability to move one or both sides of the face, joint pains, severe headaches with neck stiffness or heart palpitations. Months to years later repeated episodes of joint pain and swelling may occur. Occasionally shooting pains or tingling in the arms and legs may develop. Despite appropriate treatment, about 10 to 20% of those affected develop joint pains, memory problems and tiredness for at least six months.

Butcher knife

Butcher knife

A butcher knife or butcher's knife is a knife designed and used primarily for the butchering or dressing of animal carcasses.

9-1-1

9-1-1

9-1-1, usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Jordan, Mexico, Palau, Panama, Philippines, the United States, Uruguay, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency numbers around the world, this number is intended for use in emergency circumstances only. Using it for any other purpose is a crime in most jurisdictions.

Emergency medical services

Emergency medical services

Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. They may also be known as a first aid squad, FAST squad, emergency squad, ambulance squad, ambulance corps, life squad or by other initialisms such as EMAS or EMARS.

Face transplant

Face transplant

A face transplant is a medical procedure to replace all or part of a person's face using tissue from a donor. Part of a field called "Vascularized Composite Tissue Allotransplantation" (VCA) it involves the transplantation of facial skin, the nasal structure, the nose, the lips, the muscles of facial movement used for expression, the nerves that provide sensation, and, potentially, the bones that support the face. The recipient of a face transplant will take life-long medications to suppress the immune system and fight off rejection.

Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit American academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation established in 1921, it runs a 170-acre campus in Cleveland, as well as 11 affiliated hospitals, 19 family health centers in Northeast Ohio, and hospitals in Florida and Nevada. International operations include the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi hospital in the United Arab Emirates and Cleveland Clinic Canada, which has two executive health and sports medicine clinics in Toronto. Another hospital campus in the United Kingdom, Cleveland Clinic London, opened to outpatients in 2021 and fully opened in 2022. Tomislav Mihaljevic is the president and CEO.

Rabies

Rabies

Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. It was historically referred to as hydrophobia due to the symptom of panic when presented with liquids to drink. Early symptoms can include fever and tingling at the site of exposure. These symptoms are followed by one or more of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, violent movements, uncontrolled excitement, fear of water, an inability to move parts of the body, confusion, and loss of consciousness. Once symptoms appear, the result is virtually always death, regardless of treatment. The time period between contracting the disease and the start of symptoms is usually one to three months but can vary from less than one week to more than one year. The time depends on the distance the virus must travel along peripheral nerves to reach the central nervous system.

Alprazolam

Alprazolam

Alprazolam, sold under the brand name Xanax, among others, is a fast-acting, potent tranquilizer of medium duration in the triazolobenzodiazepine (TBZD) class, which are benzodiazepines (BZDs) fused with a triazole ring. It is most commonly used in management of anxiety disorders, specifically panic disorder or generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Other uses include the treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea, together with other treatments. GAD improvement occurs generally within a week. Alprazolam is generally taken by mouth.

Aortic aneurysm

Aortic aneurysm

An aortic aneurysm is an enlargement (dilatation) of the aorta to greater than 1.5 times normal size. They usually cause no symptoms except when ruptured. Occasionally, there may be abdominal, back, or leg pain. The prevalence of abdominal aortic aneurysm ("AAA") has been reported to range from 2 to 12% and is found in about 8% of men more than 65 years of age. The mortality rate attributable to AAA is about 15,000 per year in the United States and 6,000 to 8,000 per year in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Between 2001 and 2006, there were approximately 230,000 AAA surgical repairs performed on Medicare patients in the United States.

Bohdan Pomahač

Bohdan Pomahač

Bohdan Pomahač is a Czech plastic surgeon. He led the team that performed the first full face transplant in United States and the third overall in the world.

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two founding members of Mass General Brigham, the largest healthcare provider in Massachusetts. Robert Higgins, MD, MSHA serves as the hospital's current president.