Back to GUSD Home Page

Chimp Attack

Brett A. Wilson

Broncho Express

Volume 1 Issue 4            

February 2009

Editor: Brett Wilson

Reporters: Brett Wilson, Luke Gevas, Lindsay Harjak, Jocelyn Hale and Miles Gevas

Advisor: Mr. Klug

 

The Geyserville Broncho Express is published at least 8 times per year.

Due to high productions costs, the Broncho Express is delivered digitally on the school’s website. Signed articles and other pieces in the Broncho Express represent the opinion of the writer/artist and do not necessarily reflect those of the Broncho Express, Geyserville Educational Park or the Geyserville Unified School District.

The Broncho Express is digitally printed by the Studio Productions class,  Geyserville High School.

Return to Top of Page

On February 16^th, 2009, Travis the chimpanzee, who used to be in commercials for Coca-Cola and Old Navy, brutally attack Charla Nash, a friend of the owner, Sandra Herold. Just minutes before the incident, Travis the chimp had stolen Herold’s car keys and had left the house. Charla Nash had come to the house to help her get Travis back into the house. Though he was familiar with Nash from Herold’s deceased husband’s towing company, Nash had a new hair style at the time of the attack, possibly making her unrecognizable to the chimp. As Travis attacked, Herold tried to defend her friend by hitting Travis with a shovel and stabbing him multiple times with a butcher knife, having no effect on the raging ape. Herold then went to the phone and dialed 911.

 

Herold then got in her car and hid, escaping the chimpanzee while he chased her, though he could open doors, she had locked them from within. Despite this, the chimpanzee could have easily have ripped the door wide open, thankfully he didn’t.

            

As a police officer arrived on the scene with his cruiser, Travis ran to the vehicle and tried to open the passenger side door. Unable to open it, he walked over to the driver’s door and opened it, at which point the officer opened fire, hitting the chimp. Travis then stumbled back into the house, critically wounded, and into his cage. The officer followed and found Travis dead within his cage.

            

When medical personal arrived, they mistook Charla Nash for a man because of the horrendous injuries done upon her by Travis. Nash underwent surgery for 72 hours with 4 teams of surgeons, doing their best to keep Nash alive. Paramedics noticed that she had lost her jaw, eyes, and nose in the attack. Due to the nature of her condition, the hospital included counseling for the personal who worked with her. She is still held in critical condition in the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

            

With basic procedure, Travis’s head was sent the University of Connecticut for a necropsy, testing if he had rabies or not. The test came back negative. The attack was blamed on a combination of things. Travis was on two medications, one for his Lyme disease, and another, Xanax, for being a bit too active.

 

The other factor was Charla Nash’s new hair style, the chimp possibly mistaking her for an unknown person, combining this with the medication and you might have the reason for the attack.

 

All in all, Sandra Herold may be up for a lawsuit, all facts still pending. It is still unclear whether or not Charla Nash will live either, her condition fluctuating. PETA has used this case to further explain why you shouldn’t own a wild animal, as our own Mr.Goodhart would agree “There is always the possibility to have a once humble pet turn on you.”