Three chimp attacks in this week's news

They do say that "things happen in threes"....and there have been three articles about Chimpanzee attacks in this week's news!  Yesterday there was news of a chimp attacking an American graduate student in South Africa on Thursday. He was dragged nearly a kilometre by two chimpanzees who had grabbed his feet and pulled him under a fence into their enclosure at the Chimp Eden, a sanctuary for abused and orphaned chimpanzees, which was opened in 2006 in collaboration with the Jane Goodall Institute and the Umhloti Primate Park on game reserve land near Nelspruit, South Africa. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501710_162-57464094/chimps-attack-american-at-south-africa-sanctuary/

The second bit of "chimp" news I've seen -- about the chimpanzee habitat at the Los Angeles Zoo which was open for visitors again on Wednesday this week, a day after a baby chimp was killed by an adult male in front of dozens of visitors. The baby’s mother, Gracie, was allowed to keep the chimp’s body after Tuesday afternoon’s attack. Zookeepers will decide how long she keeps it, said spokesman Jason Jacobs. He said he didn’t know what would happen to the baby’s body after it was taken from the mother. The infant was the first chimpanzee born at the zoo since 1999. There are 13 chimpanzees left at the zoo. The unnamed infant was born on March 6 and gradually introduced to the troop, one of the largest in a North American zoo. There were no aggressive signs, Jacobs said, but it is common in the wild for males to kill the offspring of females they are interested in. [From the Washington Post]

Gracie with her baby in May 2012

And a third chimp story in the news this week: lawyers for a Connecticut woman severely disfigured in 2009 when she was attacked by a friend's pet chimpanzee filed papers accusing state officials of failing to act on warnings that it could be dangerous.  The chimp ripped off her nose, lips, eyelids and hands...necessitating a face transplant. http://articles.boston.com/2012-06-28/news/32459570_1_chimpanzee-attack-sandra-herold-state-officials

Charla Nash before chimp attack

Charla Nash after chimp attack

These come as a sobering reminder that most wild animals on display at zoos (or kept privately) are not designed for captive living. If you’ve been to a zoo, you’ve probably noticed evidence of this: a bear that walks in circles, a tiger who paces back and forth, or a monkey that does nothing but circle the enclosure. Keeping wild animals as pets can be appealing, but there are many potential problems, not to mention legal and ethical issues.