Chimpanzee shot and killed after attacking woman in North Stamford
The Advocate Staff
Posted: 02/16/2009 06:09:04 PM EST
STAMFORD -- A woman whose 175-pound chimpanzee attacked her friend Monday afternoon tried to stop the attack by stabbing the primate with a butcher knife, police said.
As police arrived to clear the way for emergency medical workers to treat the seriously injured friend, the chimp, Travis, revived and opened the door of the police cruiser .
The officer inside fired several shots, killing the chimp.
Travis' owner, Sandra Herold, and two officers also were hurt, though the extent of their injuries wasn't clear.
Travis was known around Stamford for years because he rode around in trucks belonging to Herold's towing company, Desire Me Motors in Stamford.
The attack occurred at Herold's home on Rock Rimmon Road. The friend's name, age and hometown are not known.
Herold apparently called 911 when she went into the house to get the butcher knife, police at the scene said.
Travis, who was known for liking police officers, tried to open one door of the cruiser, smashing the side-view mirror. When he couldn't do that, he went around to the driver's-side door and opened that, police said. That is when the officer shot him several times.
"He had no choice but to pull his pistol and fire several rounds," Capt.Richard Conklin said of the officer. "The EMS personnel were reluctant to go in because there was an enraged chimpanzee on the loose." Many Stamford residents know Travis for a 2003 incident in which
the chimp s jumped out of a truck in which he was riding with Herold and her late husband, Jerome, tying up a downtown intersection for two hours.
The incident occurred after a young man threw something at the Herolds' truck that went through the window and struck Travis, startling him. Travis unbuckled his seat belt, opened the door and went after the man, but did not catch him.
Travis then played at the busy Tresser Boulevard intersection for about two hours, eluding repeated attempts to capture him. Police finally forced him back into the truck.