http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-chimp5mar05,0,4930133.story?coll=la-home-headlines
March 5, 2005
HAVILAH, Calif. — St. James and LaDonna Davis raised Moe the chimpanzee as their son. That was the word they used to describe him, and that was how they treated him — like a hairy, rambunctious child who was a pampered member of the family.
The Davises were visiting Moe at an animal sanctuary in the hills of eastern Kern County — a place to which he had been banished after biting a woman — when they were attacked by two other chimps and brutally mauled.
St. James Davis took the brunt of the attack, the ferocity of which left paramedics stunned.
"I had no idea a chimpanzee was capable of doing that to a human," said Kern County Fire Capt. Curt Merrell, who was among the first on the scene.
Davis, 62, who remained in critical condition Friday at Loma Linda University Medical Center, was badly disfigured. According to his wife,
he lost all the fingers from both hands, an eye, part of his nose, cheek and lips, and part of his buttocks. His foot was mutilated and his heel bone was cracked.
... The attack ended when the son-in-law of the sanctuary's owners shot and killed the two rampaging chimps.
... Male chimps usually stand about 4 to 5 1/2 feet tall and weigh from 100 to 120 pounds, experts say. They are
strong and aggressive animals who routinely kill much larger creatures in the wild. Their upper-body strength is said to be at least five times that of the average human.
"These are vicious, vicious animals that can pick you up and throw you across the room," said Dr. Tom Jenkins, a veterinarian in Lake Isabella who is familiar with the Brauers' sanctuary.