Moe the Chimp is On the Loose in Ca

Moe the Chimp is On the Loose


A 34-year-old chimpanzee that was raised in a West Covina family's home for three decades escaped from a wildlife sanctuary in San Bernardino County Friday night.
Animal control officials and volunteers searched the nearby San Bernardino National Forest Saturday

St. James Davis brought Moe home from Tanzania in the 1960s, after the chimp's mother was killed by poachers, and he and his wife raised the chimp in their West Covina home as if he were their son. -- cbs2.com​

In August 1998, Moe was shot with a tranquilizer gun after escaping the Davis's West Covina home. He was taken from the home the following year after biting a police offer and lived at Jungle Exotics in Devore for the past year. If you happen upon a chimp in the Inland Valley this weekend, do call San Bernardino County Animal Control at (800) 472-5609.

photo via AP/San Gabriel Valley Newspaper.

 

*back in 2005


Chimp Mauling Under Investigation

Escaped From Cage And Attacked Visitor At Calif. Animal Sanctuary



(AP) Investigators said they are trying to figure out how two chimpanzees that viciously attacked a visitor at an animal sanctuary escaped from their cage.

The chimps chewed off St. James Davis' nose and severely mauled his genitals and limbs Thursday before the son-in-law of the sanctuary's owner shot the animals to death, authorities said.

Davis, 62, and his wife had gone to there to visit another chimpanzee that had lived with them for decades before they were forced to give the animal up. LaDonna Davis, 64, was bit on the hand.

"A big part of the investigation will be figuring out whether the (sanctuary) owners were in compliance with regulations," sheriff's Cmdr. Hal Chealander said. "There's a reason why those chimpanzees got out. It will be crucial to our investigation how they got out."

Health authorities were testing the dead chimps for rabies and other diseases.

The Davises were at Animal Haven Ranch, in a canyon 30 miles east of Bakersfield, to celebrate the birthday of Moe, a 39-year-old chimpanzee who was taken from their suburban Los Angeles home in 1999 after biting off part of a woman's finger.

The couple had brought Moe a cake and were standing outside his cage when Buddy and Ollie, two of the four chimpanzees in the adjoining cage, attacked St. James Davis, said Steve Martarano, a spokesman for the state Department of Fish and Game. Moe was not involved in the attack.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/national/main678061.shtml