A massive ape lost control at his Connecticut owner’s home today and mauled a woman’s face before he was repeatedly stabbed by his horrified owner and eventually shot dead by police, authorities said.
Travis, a 200-pound primate, attacked the 55-year-old woman today in Stamford as she visited her friend and chimp owner Sandy Herold around 3:30 p.m, cops said.
When Herold saw what happening, she ran out of the house with a butcher knife and stabbed Travis numerous times.
Cops showed up and a bloodied Travis tried to open a door of the patrol car. When he discovered it was locked, he moved to the other side and ripped the mirror off.
One of the officers then shot Travis.
The 15-year-old chimp staggered back inside Herald’s home, where he collapsed in a pool of blood.
The victim was taken to Stamford Hospital with severe facial injuries.
“It was a very brutal attack,” said Stamford police Cpt. Richard Conklin, adding that the woman’s “hands were mangled.”
In 2003, Travis escaped from the Herold car by jumping from her car in Stamford. He was corralled by cops a few hours later.
Travis was well known around Stamford because he rode around in the truck belonging to Herold’s towing company, Desire Me Motors in Stamford, according to the Stamford Advocate newspaper.
Also in the 2003 escape incident, a man threw something in Herold’s truck that struck Travis. The chimp unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door and ran out after the man, but did not catch him, the paper said.
Later that day, Travis then played at an intersection for two hours, causing traffic to stall. Police eventually sedated him with stun guns and got him back into the truck.
Travis took his own bath, ate at the table and drank wine from a stemmed glass. He also brushed his teeth using a Water Pik, according to the Stamford Advocate.
Aside from appearing in Coca Cola and Old Navy TV commercials, he appeared once on the “Maury Povich Show” and was in a TV pilot.