When Chimps Go Berserk: A Lack of 'Oversight'

June 14, 2011 (Press-News.org) Dangerous Animal Attacks
If you haven't heard Charla Nash's story yet, be warned. The extent of her horrific injuries from the animal attack are reason enough to call for an end to private ownership of chimpanzees. "An adolescent or adult chimp is a very dangerous animal that poses serious public safety concerns if they are not properly housed and managed," says scientist Steve Ross, as William Mullen reports for the Chicago Tribune.

Chimpanzees are more than capable of causing serious injury or death to human beings; Charla Nash, now in her late fifties, underwent face-transplant surgery in May after a 200 pound chimp named Travis tore off Nash's "hands, nose, lips and eyelids," according to the Huffington Post. Nash had hand-transplant surgery as well, but her body did not respond to it, and the transplanted hands had to be removed.

It appears that Nash will remain blind.

In 2009, her employer asked Nash for help in corralling Travis back into the house, after the chimp escaped and was loping around the front yard. Suddenly, Travis went berserk, and attacked Nash. Travis was shot and killed by the police.

If you have been injured in an animal attack or bitten by a dog, visit our Web site, http://www.ferrerlaw.com , or talk to a Miami personal injury attorney about your options.

Cutting-Edge Surgery
According to the Huffington Post, surgeons have performed roughly 12 face transplants over the world, including at Brigham and Women's Hospital, which performed the first face transplant done in the U.S. this year (on construction worker Dallas Wiens, who struck a power line on a job site and was severely burned).

Despite the loss of the transplanted hands, Nash's face transplant surgery was an apparent success. Her brother said that she looks "fantastic, in terms of the face."

113 Chimps Similar to Travis
Travis was a privately-owned chimpanzee. As Mullen reports, Ross says that private owners and breeders "operate without oversight or standards." Ross founded Project ChimpCARE and travels around speaking about the reality of caring for and managing chimpanzees. He estimates that there are 113 chimps similar to Travis. In other words, there are 113 hefty chimps that put other people, like Charla Nash, in great danger.

Website: http://www.ferrerlaw.com