When I woke up Monday morning, my boyfriend told me about a news story he had just read about a woman named Charla Nash being mauled by a chimp.
My first reaction (after being horrified) was that the woman was a
trainer at a zoo, or something like that. What else would make
sense? But it turned out that the chimp, Travis, was actually a
pet of Nash's friend.
Why would anybody have a pet chimpanzee?
Chimps aren't pets. They are wild animals and should be kept that way. In adulthood, chimps weigh 200 pounds and are stronger than humans, especially the 70-year-old woman who owned Travis. Though Travis was a trained chimp with human-like behaviors, such animals can instantly become violent.
Why would anybody have a pet chimpanzee?
Chimps aren't pets. They are wild animals and should be kept that way. In adulthood, chimps weigh 200 pounds and are stronger than humans, especially the 70-year-old woman who owned Travis. Though Travis was a trained chimp with human-like behaviors, such animals can instantly become violent.
How many times have we heard wild-animals-as-pets-gone-wrong stories? What will it take to make people realize, wild animals are not pets? Unfortunately, I think it's going to take a law banning these animals as pets for people to really stop the practice.
Nash is still in critical condition, but luckily, her vital signs are improving. Doctors performed seven hours of surgery on her face and hands in a Connecticut hospital. She was recently transferred to Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, where the first face transplant was executed. Some staff members who treated Nash have sought counseling because of the horrifying sight of Nash's injuries.
All this pain and trauma, not only to Nash, but also to everyone else involved, definitely isn't worth whatever satisfaction comes from owning a pet chimp. It's sad that this type of occurrence has happened before, yet people are still allowed to keep wild animals as pets.
Why someone would even want to have a wild animal as a pet is a mystery to me. Sure, young chimps might be cute, but they obviously aren't meant to be domesticated. And when they mature and weigh 200 pounds, you can't cuddle or play with it. I'm pretty sure a kitty would prove to be a much more loving and satisfying pet.
Leave a comment