Chimps at Nebraska zoo bite off keeper's fingers

OMAHA (Reuters) – Two chimpanzees at a Nebraska zoo attacked a keeper and bit off two of her fingers, police said on Saturday.

The keeper at the Riverside Discovery Center in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, was petting a 40-year-old chimpanzee on Friday who apparently did not want to be touched, according to police.

When the chimp grabbed the keeper's hand, the keeper started screaming, causing the chimp to scream, police said. This attracted another chimp, who also grabbed the keeper's hand.

The chimps bit, and the keeper lost her index finger and a ring finger on one hand at the knuckles, police said. The middle finger had a laceration but was not bitten off.

Anne Janes, executive director of the zoo in western Nebraska town, said the woman's fingers were recovered, and she was taken to a Scottsbluff hospital for treatment.

(Reporting by David Hendee, Editing by Mary Wisniewski, Ellen Wulfhorst and Greg McCune)


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110115/...1wc2F0bmVicg--

When are people gonna learn about chimps. I would treat them no different than a lion.

We need more regulations in place to keep people safe from all these chimps running around biting fingers off before it becomes an epidemic.....

More than fingers...



926,000 hits on google for "Chimp attack." Epidemics can not be controlled. Ownership of chimps can be.

Yeah? Google how many people have been killed by captive chimps last year in the US. Now google the number of people killed by dogs.

Outlaw dogs? Well... why?

The chimps were in a ZOOOO! A ZOO! Any primate keeper who works with the larger apes will tell you that you WILL end up losing digits at some point. It's common knowledge amount ape keepers in zoos. Unless the zoo enforces a absolute no-hands on at all, with distancing techniques, bites will end up happening. Because of daily care, you almost can't have a full hands-off approach with primates. Sometimes a chimp can even get a single finger out through wire to hook a keeper's clothing or body part.

Outlawing chimps would not have avoided the chimps in a zoo biting a keeper's fingers.

The woman who owned the famous chimp who bit the poor woman's face off had prior offenses and should have had her chimp confiscated. The local authorities totally fell down on the job. If she had been responsbly owning it, with a proper cage, a proper diet without drugging it or letting it free-roam, we'd never have known she even owned one.

Oh.. like all the OTHER chimp owners in the US who won't be in the news any time soon. You know.. like all the folks who own snakes without having them kill any kids or themselves?

Amount = amoung

I can't type.

My response was sarcastic and aimed at the jump to regulations banning large constrictors because of 1-2 recent incidents.

My response was in regards to the line in the other poster saying "ownership of chimps can be(controlled)". I saw your eyeroll smiley.

And ownership of chimps ARE controlled. I don't see the issue here?

If you are gonna compare dog attacks to chimp attacks you have to come with something a little better than that. How about a ratio of chimp owners to chimp attacks vs. dog owners to dog attacks? Your off the wall statistic may not be in your favor.

Either way, you both are putting words in my mouth and derailing my point from my first post. These people need to treat a monkey like a deadly animal. They are NOT your friend, partner, playmate, equal, and humanizing a primate will only cause issues. Most attacks happen because these people are doing the wrong thing:

"When the chimp grabbed the keeper's hand, the keeper started screaming, causing the chimp to scream, police said. This attracted another chimp, who also grabbed the keeper's hand."

Why was she between two chimps? Or multiple chimps? A known animal that will brutally beat, kill and eat anothers child, castrate other males, throw feces, and viciously attack humans randomly for no reason. I never said anything about "more regulations" or "outlawing chimps", go back and read. You two made that up. These are dangerous animals and should be treated as such. Every attack was because someone was too lax or to comfortable around these animals. They are not your equal and should be treated like a deadly animal. I don't care if it was a zoo keeper. You won't see many zoo keepers walking around with the lions.

Originally Posted by Wolfy-hound

The woman who owned the famous chimp who bit the poor woman's face off had prior offenses and should have had her chimp confiscated. The local authorities totally fell down on the job. If she had been responsbly owning it, with a proper cage, a proper diet without drugging it or letting it free-roam, we'd never have known she even owned one.

And that's the point I was making. Doing the wrong things with the wrong animal.

Originally Posted by Wolfy-hound

we'd never have known she even owned one.

Oh.. like all the OTHER chimp owners in the US who won't be in the news any time soon.

Yes, the few that are probably doing the right things. I am not against owning primates (outlawing or regulations or whatever). I'm against ignorance and people treating primates as if they don't have the ability to maim. Every attack I see on TV, animal planet or the news, it's always because someone is too comfortable around their deadly pet.