R.I.P Travis: Another Victim of the Spotlight February 18, 2009
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On Monday, a 15 year old chimpanzee named Travis snapped after spending his entire short life in captivity and mauled a woman. Travis was stabbed multiple times, "pounded" with a shovel, and eventually shot to death.
The former "star" of Coca Cola and Old Navy commercials and an episode of "The Maury Povich Show", Travis was, according to Police Captain Conklin, "raised almost like a child by this family ... He rides in a car every day, he opens doors, he's a very unique animal in that aspect. We have no indication of what provoked this behavior at all." Great—except for the fact that 200lb chimpanzees aren't children.
Although Travis was raised in captivity since birth, taking great apes and other animals out of the wild and away from everything that is natural to them and forcing them to live lives in the spotlight while being beaten and forced to perform tricks, or putting them in other unnatural situations—even when they can seem loving—can cause stress and end up violent and deadly for both human and non-human primates alike.
These former "celeb" chimpanzees, like Travis, were kept in unnatural habitats and were photographed in filthy conditions in a PETA undercover investigation.
Travis was so agitated the day of the attack that his companion, a 70 year old woman named Sandra Herold, gave him the drug Xanax in some tea to calm him down. Travis wanted to go for one of those rides in Herold's car and took her keys and when Herold didn't know what to do, she called her friend Charla Nash, who rushed over to help—and ended up being attacked.
Herold reportedly also had a "large cage" built in her home for Travis.
This whole situation is sad but honestly, writing this blog is hard for me to do. A "large cage"? As if a house isn't a small enough cage, there has to be an even smaller one built inside for this chimp to be trapped in? It's no wonder that after so long Travis just couldn't take it any longer. And giving him Xanax? This whole thing was entirely preventable.
Travis, nor any other great ape or animal, belongs in entertainment or captivity. Who ends up happy in this story? Was the thirty seconds in those commercials really worth a lifetime of distress and eventual slaughter of Travis, and now also a possible death of a woman trying to calm a miserable, enraged animal down?
Please never support companies, movies or TV shows that continue to use animals for entertainment. You can catch PETA's Lisa Lange on Bill O'Reilly tonight at 8pm on Fox News for more on Travis and this sad story.
Stay loud!
Comments
So sad!People so disgusting and selfish! R.I.P. Travis!
How can anyone talk to animal hater Bill o'Reilly and not punch that douche?! Your brave Lisa!
Posted by: Kelly at February 18, 2009 7:42 PMGreat Job tonight! I wish that o'reily guy would've shut up and given you more chance to talk about the plight animals are in but you did very well with choosing a person to stay calm. Bravo Peta!
Posted by: Aidan at February 18, 2009 8:11 PMWho cares about that old woman who got attacked, go get a band aid and wait for it to heal. They shouldn't have brutally killed Travis for attacking a person. Gosh! People can be soooo stupid. It's a wild animal for christ's sake. It belongs in the jungle with other wild animals with enough room to roam free and create a family, not with an old woman in a small place. Ugh! It makes me sooo mad that people would even do this, an animal is a human and a human is an animal. They all deserve equal rights. If a person went bazirk would they kill it? No. So why kill a poor defenseless creature.
Posted by: Gina at February 18, 2009 8:24 PMOh my goodness. That is horrible. R.I.P Travis...
Posted by: Chelsea at February 19, 2009 4:19 AMSo, if a human did that to another human, they would get life in prison, but because it to a chimp, our closest relative, they, the victim is slaughtered. :S somethings wrong in this world, really wrong.
Posted by: emma at February 19, 2009 5:15 AMMonkeys are stronger than us people should not mess with them.
And no matter how big the cadge is it's still
going too be sad inside and stressed.
It's like elephants in a zoo there used to walking about 24 miles a day but in a zoo they can not do any..
I agree with Gina
Posted by: payton at February 19, 2009 9:53 AMThe freaking monkey attacked a woman.
I KNOW that Travis's living conditions sucked, yah yah yah...but Travis MAULED a woman.
You can't just put a bandaid on it okay?
My friend has been mauled by a dog just by walking down the street. He did NOTHING to provoke the animal. It just ran and attacked. My friend then got 41 stitches and ended up having 2 broken ribs from hitting the curb.
Now, Travis shouldn't have been brutally killed because that was totally wrong and irrational, but the bottom line is, Travis attacked a woman.
Think about it, and be completely rational and reasonable,
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF SOME ANIMAL JUST ATTACKED YOU?
"Who cares about that old woman who got attacked, go get a band aid and wait for it to heal."
seriously??
"Old women" are animals too. The woman lost two eyes, her nose and part of her jaw. Im so sorry to hear how this poor animal was treated and I agree with everything stated on this page. But idiots like this are what ruin the image of peta.
How about lets care about animals AND old women. ... Moron.
Posted by: maige at February 19, 2009 4:40 PMR.I.P. poor monkey DX A dog did attack me...(it was a dog) but then i went the the ER and i was all fine, and so is the doggy^-^
Posted by: Kaylee at February 19, 2009 5:08 PMNicole, not all people who have exotic animals are heartless. I am proud to say I am owned by my lovely amazon parrot, Kiwi. He was a rescue, but was born in captivity. There is NO WAY he (or most other captive-bred exotic animals) could make it in the wild. It would be CRUEL to release him, as he would not know what to do, and die. I provide him with proper care, and he provides me with so much love. DO NOT BLAME THE ANIMAL! The caretaker of Travis was obviously irresponsible, and probably didn't realize how intelligent the chimp was. Intelligence can be dangerous in animals, and since many exotic pets are extremely intelligent, most people don't know how to handle them and provide them with appropriate activities. Intelligent animals need constant mental stimulation (by way of toys and puzzles), human-animal interaction and opportunities to have "instinctual experiences" daily, such as foraging/hunting for food as they would in the wild, daily showers to simulate rain ect..... If the CARETAKER cannot provide the animal with appropriate, nature-based activities, and proper care then the caretaker is 100% at fault. The reason some animals are considered exotic, is because their probably not that far removed from the wild, and still have ALL their natural instincts. Please do not condemn us who share our lives with exotic animals as bad people. Condemn those who do not properly care for those animals.
THX!
Posted by: Aprilheartskiwi at February 19, 2009 8:38 PMPoor Travis, and poor woman =[
Lisa, maybe talking with Bill isn't the best way to get the message out. That guy has such a closed-mind, it can not help to talk to him. Might as well just do an interview with Ann Coulter!!
Maybe a more respectable news agency next time.. Like an elementary school newspaper!
Posted by: Josh at February 20, 2009 1:05 AM:((((((( this made me cry :(((((((
Posted by: melissa at February 20, 2009 2:41 AMI'm glad O'Reilly had Lisa on 'The Factor'.
I sure hope the lady in the hospital with near-death injuries turns out to be O.K. she had nothing to do with Travis being kept in captivity and is an unfortunate victim.
And RIP, Travis :(
Posted by: Curtis at February 20, 2009 4:55 AMIf a 200-pound ape was attacking YOU, what would you want people to do?
Posted by: Sapphi at February 21, 2009 6:36 PMPoor Travis, RIP.
When will people learn from horrible incidents like this? Wild animals are meant to be in the WILD!
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I completly agree with this. Exotic animals should never be kept as pets. I feel bad for Travis, having to live with that women his whole life:(
Posted by: Nicole at February 18, 2009 7:08 PM