Humans have suffered horrific injuries at the hands of great apes – estimated to be about four times as powerful as humans. Terrifying pictures reveal what happens when chimpanzees attack – some with pets attacking their owners, animals in zoos going rogue, and even random attacks in the wild.
For the first time ever, scientists have revealed they have witnessed wild chimpanzees killing and eating gorillas. Researchers fear the deadly encounter may be down to climate change and a dwindling food supply.
But attacks on humans have long made headlines, leaving victims with lifelong and life-changing damage, and these are some of the most egregious acts of chimp violence. It’s a miracle Charla Nash survived when she was brutally beaten by her friend’s pet chimpanzee.
In 2009, at the age of 50, she visited her friend Sandra Herold in Stamford, Connecticut, where she had raised her pet chimpanzee, Travis, for most of his life.
But the chimpanzee, weighing more than 200 pounds, viciously attacked her. Travis ripped off Charla’s hand with his giant primate teeth – then attacked her lips, eyelids, eyes and nose.
When emergency crews arrived, very little was left of her face, and doctors later had to reattach her jaw. To save her friend, Sandra picked up a kitchen knife and stabbed her pet chimpanzee.
When rescuers finally arrived, Travis approached the police car, tried to open the door, and bared his bloody fangs before officers shot him dead. Charla has since undergone numerous surgeries to reconstruct her face through groundbreaking medical procedures.
Back in the 1970s, St. James Davis and his wife LaDona were like any other married couple—only they had a chimpanzee instead of a baby. In 1967, St. James returned to California from a trip to South Africa with Moe, the chimpanzee, and planned to keep him for a few years, but he eventually became an integral part of their family and had the best years of 30 years.
But after Moe bit a police officer in 1998 and a woman the following year, authorities took him from St James, and after a long custody battle, he ended up at Animal Haven Ranch.
The devout couple regularly visited their future son and went to celebrate his 39th birthday on March 3, 2005.
But just as they were enjoying the cake under a sunny sky, two baby chimpanzees suddenly broke free from their cages and attacked them viciously before being shot.
LaDona escaped with only a missing thumb – but her husband suffered catastrophic injuries and was hospitalized for six months.
St James, then 62, tried to protect himself and his wife from the brutal attack, but after his nose was bitten off, his fingers were bitten off and his right eye was gouged out, he fell to the ground and was beaten for at least five minutes.
One of the chimpanzees bit off his genitals and ravaged his left foot until his screams finally caught the attention of his owner’s son-in-law, who shot them dead.
