A little soapbox moment here, folks.  I imagine by now we’ve all heard about the woman in Stamford, CT, who was mauled by her neighbor’s 200 lb. chimp (with whom some news reports made a point of saying she was great friends).  These stories, unfortunately, happen pretty regularly, and they always seem to run the same way.  Some ordinary person decides to get an exotic pet.  Said pet is raised in the bosom of the family, beloved by all.  (In this case, the chimp, Travis, even starred in TV commercials.)  And then one day, usually when the animal is an adult, something goes horrifyingly wrong and some member has to go in to the ER for tiger mauling triage.  The news stories always make a point of mentioning how well-behaved, how well-mannered, what a joker the animal was!  Particularly if it’s a chimp involved.  There’s always a temptation to make it a Lifetime movie about the beloved pet and TV star gone tragically bad.

Sorry.  This is not Old Yeller, people.  A chimp does not have to have rabies or some inexplicable, tragic personality flaw or childhood trauma to seriously hurt someone in a bad moment.  It does not have to have gone wrong.  It just has to be a chimp. read more »