travis

Guest post by Brian Hare, Evolutionary Anthropologist at Duke University Last month, a 200 pound male chimpanzee named Travis mauled a woman outside the home where he has been living with his owner Sandra Herold. Charla Nash was nearly killed by Travis and now has life changing wounds to her face while Travis was stabbed by his owner with a butcher knife and shot dead by the police. Was this incidence preventable or just a freak accident? Should chimpanzees and other primates be kept as pets? What is the effect of the primate pet trade not only on the welfare of these "pets" but on their…

You've likely already seen this story all over the news: Chimp's owner calls vicious mauling 'freak thing' STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) -- The owner of a 200-pound chimpanzee that viciously mauled a Stamford woman calls the incident "a freak thing," but says her pet was not a "horrible" animal. Sandra Herold told NBC's "Today Show" in an interview aired Wednesday that Travis, her 14-year-old chimpanzee, was like a son to her. Herold tried to save her friend by stabbing the chimp with a butcher knife and bludgeoning it with a shovel. I have extremely strong emotions concerning this particular issue…