Travis the monkey killed for going on a rampage while mental

frostywolf said:
1st post! I'm jumping right in on a 'hot' thread, yay!

I'm going to cover a few different things, here...



First, there are many different species of boas and pythons, and I know many herpers that keep them. Typically, when you hear of someone being injured, it's due to burmese pythons, which get very large and powerful. One person should never attempt to handle a full-grown burmese python alone.

As for allowing the child to handle the snakes, it's really not a big deal. I've handled many snakes, from childhood, and many wildlife education programs have snakes that children can touch, hold etc.

Next topic, pit bulls. Yes, pit bulls have been bred to fight. With other dogs. However, they were also bred NOT to bite humans. When in the fighting pit, if one dog 'locked' (I know this is not literal, but I mean when one has a grip and won't let go) the handlers had to be able to go in and separate the dogs. They did not want the dogs attacking them. Now, I work in a veterinary hospital, I am a dog obedience trainer and I have volunteered with shelters and rescues so I have a lot of experience with dogs of all types. In general, pit bulls are extraordinarily sweet tempered dogs with their people when they have been properly raised and socialized. The problem, though, comes with all of the overbreeding by people that just throw a couple pits together to breed, unsocialized dogs chained up all the time outside. This is a huge problem especially with pit bulls. That and the image that is perpetuated often in poorer parts of inner cities where pit bulls and drug circles go hand in hand.

Finally, exotic pets. I have also worked with wildlife. In college I did internships at a large public aquarium, where I did marine animal rehabilitation and also cared for the patients in the medical center. I strongly disagree with keeping wild species as pets. They are never domesticated, but some do become tame. But they should never be trusted and you must always be vigilant. I did much of my work with wild seals that were being treated for eventual release, but even when I dealt with the resident sea lions, which interacted with their trainers and the public daily, I never let my guard down completely. Even though these sea lions would give kisses to children after perfomances, there were days where the trainers would pull one of the animals off the performance schedule because they were cranky, or not acting quite 'right'.

That's my take, anyway. Oh, and hello everyone!
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Welcome, frostywolf. I am glad you are here. It sounds like you know better than to walk near trees from where you can expect monkeys to throw their crap. :)
 
Mistyrose said:
What i meant is if the dog or cat has mental problems, like if it
start to attack people or just getting out of control? What would
you do with the animal?
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That would actually be quite rare. Almost all of the time, when an animal suddenly starts acting aggressive, or otherwise not normal, it is due to a physical medical cause.

For instance, some common causes of sudden aggression are thyroid imbalance, seizure disorders and pain reactions. All of these are potentially treatable.

So, for me, sudden aggression/change in behavior always equals a trip to the veterinarian first. I would make certain that there is a full physical exam, checking for a pain reaction (the strongest aggressive reactions typically come from neck/spine pain in my experience). I would also request a full blood workup (since routine ones don't check thyroid levels).

If the vet found no physical cause for the aggression, I would then schedule an appointment with a certified veterinary behaviorist. However, I am comfortable around aggressive animals, as I have to deal with them all the time in my job. Also, there are no children in my home, so I don't have to worry about that aspect. For the average pet owner, though, if they have ruled out any medical cause, and the animal is truly dangerous, I agree with having the animal euthanized.
 
Beowulf said:
Welcome, frostywolf. I am glad you are here. It sounds like you know better than to walk near trees from where you can expect monkeys to throw their crap. :)
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Thanks for the welcome.

I don't know though, in my job at the veterinary hospital, I've been peed on, pooped on and had various bodily fluids get on my clothes. It's certainly not a glamorous job. Plus all the scars from the fractious kitties...
 
I just heard on the news that the woman that was attacked has been transferred to the Cleveland Clinic. Still in critical condition.
 
oh - thanks for article.... damn... a facial transplant?
 
Steel X said:
Why was she moved to the next place?

EDIT: never mind I found this... reason is still not explained.

Chimp attack victim moved to Cleveland Clinic - CNN.com
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If I was to venture a guess, I'd say because she had so much damage to her face, and the Cleveland Clinic is where the doctor's just performed the first face transplant. She is probably going to need a lot of reconstructive surgery.

Oops...didn't read far enough. What Bott said.
 
But she lost both of her eyes...are they able to "reconnect" the nerves of her eyes back into her brain or something? my guess is that it's pretty much impossible...he might have...well yeah you get the picture.
 
Steel X said:
But she lost both of her eyes...are they able to "reconnect" the nerves of her eyes back into her brain or something? my guess is that it's pretty much impossible...he might have...well yeah you get the picture.
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No, I doubt that they will be able to reconnect the eyes. But she had a lot of damage to her face besides that. The way her injuries were described, she has a lot of soft tissue damage, and probably some bone structure damage as well.
 
Steel X said:
But she lost both of her eyes...are they able to "reconnect" the nerves of her eyes back into her brain or something? my guess is that it's pretty much impossible...he might have...well yeah you get the picture.
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Prosthetic eyes is all that she can get. They cant do the reconnect of nerves and I don't think the eyes were intact at all either. Also lost her nose and jaw.
 
Her jaw was ripped off?? Good god it's really a miracle she has survived that.
 
I heard about this story from my local news channel. The woman got attacked by the chimp and survived but will probably have to undergo surgeries to reorganize her injuries.
 
Yea, I read about what happened. Monkeys/apes/gorillas/ aren't tame animals. They are dominant animals - dangerous to have them as pets at home. Not safe.

I would rather to have a tame dog - a friendly one like daschund. A cute one. :giggle: Reason ? I prefer to have a peace of mind. :P
 
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