The incredible story of Charla Nash, the woman whose face and hands were torn off by a chimpanzee

“He eats it!” Sandra Herold yelled, calling 911. A few feet from her, Travis, her chimpanzee Raised as a human for years, he was tearing his friend, Charla Nash apart. It was in Connecticut United States. The woman managed to survive, but ended up going blind, with no hands, and required a face transplant. It was in 2009, but the case still resonates in the same place where is prohibited have a primate as a pet weighing more than 20 kilograms.

Travis had joined Sandra’s family at a very young age, bought from a chimpanzee farm. From there, Sandra and her husband Jérôme raised him as if it were your child: he had learned to use the bathroom, to brush his teeth and to dress. According to Sandra, the animal (who had been the protagonist of the commercials and was needed for photos all over Connecticut), also knew how to browse the web and use the TV remote.

In an interview for the NBC, on today’s show, Sandra assured: “I used to buy everything for him – fruit, lobster, chocolate. He was able to open the doors on his own. He could drive. He drove the car a few times, ”the woman said in 2009, when it was all smiles and sympathy from Travis.

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Sandra and her husband had a caravan business, and in their town the animal became famous: neighbors asked for photos when they went to the caravan business. After the death of her husband and daughter, the woman was left alone to live with Travis.

However, there was a precedent that would be a warning of the tragedy: someone threw something at the car where Sandra and the chimp were traveling. This object hit Travis, who became angry, unbuckled his seat belt and opened the car door. He chased his attacker down the street, but missed him.

Travis’ attack on Charla Nash

On the afternoon of February 16, 2009, Travis looked pissed off, Sandy testified. At that point, he stole the car keys from his human “mum” and went out into the yard. The woman observed the animal’s movements as she spoke on the phone with Charla Nash, a friend and employee of the Herold family.

According to the Connecticut State Criminal Justice Division, Charla Nash, a friend of the animal’s owner, offered to help the chimpanzee return home.

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Before her friend reached the house, Sandy managed to grab Travis. And, according to his words, he gave her a drink of tea containing Xanax pills – alprazolam, the generic name for the anti-anxiety drug.

When Charla arrived at the entrance to the house and got out of her car, she found the primate weighing over 90 kilograms: soon he threw himself on her and started biting her. The animal, with its teeth, began to tear off Nash’s hands. And he bit her nose, eyes, lips and eyelids.

Sandy grabbed a butcher’s knife and stabbed Travis three times, but couldn’t stop him. Desperate, she called the police: “He’s eating her!” She repeated in communication with an operator. “He’s killing my friend!” He warned later. “Who is killing your friend?” “Chimp, my chimpanzee!” He tore it up! Hurry up! Hurry up! Please! She replied.

The rampant attack lasted 12 minutes, eternal for the victim. Once the police arrived, a disheveled Travis approached the car, opened the door and attacked one of them.

“He bares his teeth, he growls and I see blood. I see his fangs. I’m starting to shoot, ”Officer Frank Chiafari recalled during a conversation with the newspaper. The New York Times. The policeman fired four shots from his gun: Travis, wounded in the head and chest, ran into his house and fell dead.

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Possible causes of the Chimp Travis attack

Toxicological tests on the animal revealed that it had traces of alprazolam on its body. But according to prosecutor Cohen, who worked on the case, specialists could not determine if this drug had any effect that caused his binge.

According to local media, Charla Nash had a new hairstyle on this day. This may have confused the animal, who would have thought it was someone strange. However, despite the investigation, it has never been possible to confirm what triggered his murderous rage.

The irreversible consequences of the attack suffered by Charla Nash

The year following the terrifying episode, Sandy died of an aneurysm: she was 72 years old. For her part, Nash, the attacked woman, managed to survive a complex operation lasting more than 7 hours: she received a face and hand transplant. But the limbs were removed because he developed infections. Charla sued her friend Sandy and received $ 4 million from the family heirloom.

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In one of her latest interviews, Nash said she lived in a specialist center where she was being treated. “I lost a lot of independence. I could change the wheel on my truck and now I can’t even feed myself. It is very difficult to live with. Not even live, live halfway. Sometimes you want to cry, you want to go out, you want some sort of home. I don’t know what my future is, that’s what’s scary, ”he told the newspaper. Boston herald in 2014.

In 2016, she was rushed to hospital for another rejection of her transplanted face, and she managed to survive. Now Nash, he assured the newspaper The sun, advocates for laws that prohibit keeping primates as pets.

Currently, Connecticut state law does not allow citizens to keep primates weighing more than 50 pounds – about 22 kilograms – as pets and requires exotic pet owners to apply for a special permit.