2005 chimpanzee attack in California, US
NASCAR K&N Pro Series West driver St. James Davis and his wife, LaDonna, had a pet chimpanzee named Moe, whom they treated as if he were a child. After Moe bit several people, the city of West Covina, California, seized and placed him in an animal sanctuary near Bakersfield, California. St. James and LaDonna waged a long, unsuccessful legal battle to recover him.
On March 3, 2005, while at the sanctuary on one of their frequent visits with Moe, St. James and LaDonna were attacked by two young male chimpanzees named Buddy and Ollie after they had escaped their enclosures. In the ensuing attack, LaDonna lost her thumb, and St. James was brutally mauled, resulting in permanent disfigurement and missing extremities.
Background
St. James and LaDonna adopted a chimpanzee named Moe in 1967, not long after his birth in Tanzania. Tanzanian poachers had killed his mother when he was one day old, leaving him an orphan. St. James and LaDonna did not have any children, so they raised him as their own. He lived with them in their home, wore clothes, was toilet trained, and took showers. He participated in their wedding; LaDonna said he acted as a "a combination of flower-thrower and best man".
In 1977, when Moe was 10 years old, he bit a woman, injuring her finger. A lawsuit followed, but the case was dismissed. In the 1990s, Moe was housed in a 10 ft (3.0 m) by 12 ft (3.7 m) enclosure at St. James and LaDonna's home. On August 16, 1998, he escaped. They claimed that he had been frightened by an electric shock that occurred while his cage was being repaired. Local police were called, and several officers were required to restrain him. While resisting recapture, he dented a police car and mauled a police officer's hand. The police officer required medical treatment and subsequent rehabilitation costing US$250,000.
On September 2, 1999, a visitor came to see Moe. St. James and LaDonna claim that they warned her not to attempt to approach his cage, but she extended her hand into it, and he bit her. St. James and LaDonna claimed that she wore red nail polish, and Moe had mistaken her nails for his favorite licorice. She sued, and St. James and LaDonna settled the lawsuit.
West Covina officials seized Moe and relocated him to Wildlife WayStation, an animal sanctuary. St. James and LaDonna fought to regain custody of him, but were unsuccessful. In 2002, they filed a civil rights lawsuit against West Covina; the city ultimately agreed to pay them US$100,000 plus US$225,000 for a home purchase in nearby Baldwin Park, California, where they could live with Moe.
Attack
St. James and LaDonna visited Moe regularly at the animal sanctuary. In 2003, the animal sanctuary experienced licensing problems, so he was transferred to Animal Haven Ranch, near Bakersfield, California. It was a 22-acre (8.9 ha) nonprofit sanctuary that housed six primates.
On March 3, 2005, St. James and LaDonna came to Animal Haven Ranch to celebrate Moe's 39th birthday. They brought him a birthday cake and were seated at a picnic table next to his enclosure. They brought toys, candy hearts, chocolate milk, and a raspberry-filled sheet cake for the party. LaDonna said Moe clapped his hands with joy when he saw them. She cut a piece of cake for him and then, when she went to cut a second piece, she noticed that another chimpanzee had gotten out of its cage. It rushed up to her and bit her thumb off. St. James pushed her under the table to protect her. A second chimpanzee was also loose. The two young chimpanzees involved in the attack were named Buddy and Ollie. Two female chimpanzees named Susie and Bones also escaped from their cages during the attack; they were not involved in the assault on St. James and LaDonna and were recaptured five hours later. Moe did not participate in the attack.
Buddy and Ollie attacked St. James simultaneously; one chimpanzee initially attacked his face, the other chimpanzee attacked his foot. The sanctuary owner's son-in-law, Mark Carruthers, retrieved a .45 caliber revolver and shot Buddy in the head. Meanwhile, Ollie dragged St. James' body down a walkway. Carruthers followed and shot him.
Buddy and Ollie destroyed a majority of St. James' fingers, his left foot, most of his buttocks, both testicles, part of his torso, and parts of his face including his nose and lips. A paramedic who arrived said, "It looked like a grizzly bear attack." St. James was transported to Loma Linda University Medical Center after the attack.
Aftermath
St. James spent six months in the hospital recovering from the attack, including a period of time when he was in a coma. Between 2005 and 2009, St. James Davis underwent over 60 surgeries. He had a prosthetic eye and two slits in the middle of his face where his nose was. He and LaDonna were uninsured, but initially decided not to sue Animal Haven, before reversing course and filing a lawsuit by 2009.
In 2006, the year following the attack, St. James and LaDonna placed a sign in their front yard that read "Free Moe". They also went to Superior Court in Pomona, California, to get the city of West Covina to honor their 2002 settlement which required it to purchase a home for them in Baldwin Park so that they could reunite with Moe. In 2007, the court ruled that West Covina should pay them US$32,000 because it did not fulfill their obligations under the 2002 settlement, pay them $300 per month towards covering the costs of Moe's housing, and covering travel expenses for their visits to him.
Moe disappeared in the summer of 2008. He had been living at a ranch for performing animals, Jungle Exotics, in San Bernardino. Construction workers reported they had seen him at a home near Jungle Exotics; other witnesses spotted him heading towards a mountain. St. James and LaDonna hired a helicopter to do flyovers in an attempt to flush him out of hiding, and authorities searched the San Bernardino National Forest, but he has never been found.
St. James suffered a stroke in December 2017 and died of a cardiopulmonary arrest in July of the next year. His widow, LaDonna, later became a victim of elder abuse through financial means. The alleged perpetrator, Min Maw, coerced the aging LaDonna to sign over a living will to himself that included the Davis's properties and control of active bank accounts. By the time authorities stepped in, the house had been taken over by members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club who had forced Maw out and were neglecting LaDonna's care. After the motorcycle gang were evicted, a legal battle began with Maw, which was eventually settled so as to preserve what little remained of LaDonna's stolen assets, rather than risk a lengthy and expensive court case.
See also
References
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