Imaginary Therapy

Saturday mornings, I like to get up early, sit at my computer, and read through my favorite news aggregators. The first item to catch my eye was at the very top:

NYTimes: California: Chimps Attack Visitor In Sanctuary
“Two chimpanzees at an animal sanctuary mauled a visitor on Thursday…”

It sounded like the place Moe disliked so much. Then, I read -

CNN: Chimps critically injure sanctuary visitor
BAKERSFIELD, California (AP) — “A couple’s plans for a birthday party for their former pet chimpanzee turned tragic…”

Bakersfield was familiar to me. That’s where Moe was now. And finally,

AP: Moe the Chimp’s owners injured when attacked by other chimps

It was LaDonna and St. James who were attacked. I spent most of the day reading everything I could find. I wished there was some way for me to get in touch with Moe, but I had no way to do that. I would have to wait for him to contact me.

According to the news reports, the attack occurred Thursday morning. LaDonna and St. James were visiting Moe for his 39th birthday. They were sitting at a small table in front of Moe’s outside pen, showing him the birthday cake they had brought him. Just as they were about to cut the cake, two adult chimpanzees attacked them.

No one knows how the chimps got out of their cage. In fact, four chimpanzees escaped. There were two females, Suzie, 59 years old and Bones, 49 years old. They immediately ran off. There were also two younger adult male chimps, Buddy, 15 years old and Ollie, 13 years old. Both were retirees from the entertainment business.

LaDonna told reporters that Moe was in his cage. As they were about to cut his birthday cake, they looked up and saw the two male chimps. The chimps attacked LaDonna first and bit off her left thumb. When St. James pushed her behind the table to protect her, they attacked him.

At first, it was Buddy who mauled St. James. In only a few minutes, a worker at the ranch came to his aid with a gun and shot the chimp. The bullet had little effect, and he had to return with more powerful ammunition. As Buddy continued to attack St. James, the worker shot Buddy dead. But Ollie then dragged St. James down a walkway. The ranch worker followed, and finally killed Ollie.

When they reached St. James, perhaps five minutes after the attack started, he was horribly mauled. Each of his fingers on both hands had been bitten off. His face was in shreds, with his nose, part of his cheek and his lips torn off. One of his feet had been severed from his body. And his testicles and buttocks, too, were severely mauled.

St. James was airlifted to a hospital, where he was in extremely critical condition. LaDonna would survive. The news reports made no further mention of Moe.

Animal experts interviewed for the articles all said they weren’t surprised that the older chimps attacked people. An area veterinarian said, “These are vicious, vicious animals that can pick you up and throw you across the room.”

Over the rest of the weekend and into the next week, I waited to hear from Moe. Follow-up stories said that things didn’t look good for St. James. He was being kept medically unconscious and was about to undergo the first of many surgeries. The doctors were not sure he would survive. In an interview, LaDonna said that whatever shape he was in, she just wanted to see him home. And she reiterated her faith that Moe could never be so unpredictable and vicious.

FINAL SESSION: March 10, 2005