# Genius chimp shot by police **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 17, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223 "2009-02-17T03:20:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/1 "2009-02-17T03:20:54Z")
Supposedly, Travis the Chimp > [@](#): > > was toilet trained, dressed himself, took his own bath, ate at the table and drank wine from a stemmed glass. He also brushed his teeth using a Water Pik, logged onto the computer to look at pictures, and watched television using the remote control But there is a fine line between genius and madness, and Travis crossed the line today, mauling a vistor and attacking several police officers before being shot to death, according to [this AP story.](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090217/ap_on_re_us/chimpanzee_attack_3) An officer shut himslef into his car to escape Travis, but Travis even knew how to open car doors. Apparently no one ever taught Travis about how dangerous a police officer with a gun in his hand can be. Poor Travis, you should have known not to poke at poor wild police officers in their cages. ---
**Author:** ![Race\_Harley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Race\_Harley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Race_Harley)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/2 "2009-02-17T05:23:31Z")
Something really pissed him off today. He simply went apeshit in the house. Then they had the audacity to stab him with a knife to piss him off even further. Sorry to hear about the friend that came over to help get him back in the house. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/3 "2009-02-17T05:27:46Z")
Stories like this make me sad. People need to remember that no matter how “human” you have raised your chimp to be, they are extremely dangerous and unpredictable wild animals. It sounds to me like the chimp was acting territorially. No chimp should be kept as a pet. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/4 "2009-02-17T07:28:05Z")
Sue me, it’s a tragedy, but his paragraph sounds like something a drunk reporter added in as a joke. > [@](#): > > At the time of the 2003 incident, police said the Herolds told them the chimpanzee was toilet trained, dressed himself, took his own bath, ate at the table and drank wine from a stemmed glass. He also brushed his teeth using a Water Pik, logged onto the computer to look at pictures, and watched television using the remote control, police said. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/5 "2009-02-17T07:56:24Z")
It sounds like he more or less chewed her face off. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/6 "2009-02-17T08:16:13Z")
> [@](#): > > was toilet trained, dressed himself, took his own bath, ate at the table and **drank wine** from a stemmed glass. He also brushed his teeth using a Water Pik, logged onto the computer to look at pictures, and watched television using the remote control I blame the wine. Seriously, who let’s their superchimp raid the wine cellar? (He’d just take all the good stuff) ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/7 "2009-02-17T08:22:59Z")
I gave the chimp wine and it mauled me. Uh… Who deserved to get shot in this situation? The exotic animal that should’ve been left alone in the wild or the person that kept it in a house and gave it alcohol? I know it probably wasn’t drunk when it did the mauling (could’ve been, I don’t know either way)… but still… the sensibility of these people is nonexistent. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/8 "2009-02-17T08:35:05Z")
Give a 15 year old wine, what do you expect. He was just a surly teenager. A savage, incredibly strong, 200lbs, wild ape with fangs, teenager. What could go wrong? ---
**Author:** ![George\_Kaplin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3e96dc/32.png) [@George\_Kaplin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/George_Kaplin)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/9 "2009-02-17T10:24:13Z")
He loggeed onto the computer and brushed his teeth? Damn, this chimp was smarter than some people! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/10 "2009-02-17T10:34:41Z")
This is a sad story, but the header is priceless. ---
**Author:** ![mecaenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/91b2a8/32.png) [@mecaenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mecaenas)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/11 "2009-02-17T11:21:03Z")
I blame the owners of animals who treat their pets like humans and project so much of their own feelings onto the animal that the owners lose sight of the fact that an animal is distinctly NOT human and can turn on them without warning. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/12 "2009-02-17T13:05:19Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > Stories like this make me sad. People need to remember that no matter how “human” you have raised your chimp to be, they are extremely dangerous and unpredictable wild animals. To be fair, though, so are humans, so the ‘human training’ is neither here nor there on that… ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/13 "2009-02-17T13:21:02Z")
If you make that face one more time, I’ll rip it off. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/14 "2009-02-17T13:43:01Z")
The intelligence of something neither means it’s safe or dangerous to be around. A toilet trained chimp that had to wear diapers? Owner braggadocio? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/15 "2009-02-17T18:58:34Z")
Maybe it put on its own diaper – that’s arguably a form of toilet training. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/16 "2009-02-17T20:55:58Z")
[Cecil speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2/can-a-90-lb-chimp-clobber-a-full-grown-man). > [@](#): > > As you might deduce, therefore, the word on keeping chimps as pets is a big negatory. Chimpanzees can never be fully domesticated; they’re aggressive by nature and sooner or later they’ll start to threaten their keepers in subtle ape ways that the untrained eye won’t recognize, until one day — blammo. Sounds like that’s what happened. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/17 "2009-02-17T21:02:47Z")
Coincidentally, blammo was the last thing Travis ever heard. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/18 "2009-02-17T21:04:51Z")
With the owner giving him drugs meant for humans, who knows what Travis had in his system. The article here says he had Lyme disease as well. [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29227429?GT1=43001](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29227429?GT1=43001) ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/19 "2009-02-17T21:28:22Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > Stories like this make me sad. People need to remember that no matter how “human” you have raised your chimp to be, they are extremely dangerous and unpredictable wild animals. It sounds to me like the chimp was acting territorially. No chimp should be kept as a pet. That fact is seriously emphasized that Chimps, when pissed off, will try to bite off or rip off genitalia. That is \* not\* something that goes into the maybe column when considering pets. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223/20 "2009-02-17T21:32:16Z")
Unfortunately the NY Post website doesn’t have the same “Furious George” headline that they put in the printed version.☹ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-chimp-shot-by-police/486223.md?page=2)