Charla Nash, Travis The Chimp Attack Victim, May Have Brain Damage

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut woman mauled by a chimpanzee two weeks ago lost her hands, nose, lips and eyelids and may be blind and suffering brain damage, and hospital officials say it's still unclear if her condition can improve at all.

The Cleveland Clinic, revealing the specific injuries Wednesday for the first time, told The Associated Press in a statement that 55-year-old Charla Nash also lost the bone structure in her face when she was attacked on Feb. 16 in Stamford, Conn.

Her wounds have been stabilized, but "critical issues still remain related to a significant traumatic brain injury and injuries to her eyes that threaten her vision," the hospital said.

Neurosurgeons and ophthalmologists are working to evaluate and manage her injuries, but "the full extent of these injuries and her potential for recovery, if any, remain unclear at this time," the hospital said.

Nash remains sedated in the hospital, which performed the nation's first face transplant in December. Hospital officials say it's too early to know if she will be a candidate for a face transplant.

The family and hospital said they are grateful to those across the country who have been concerned about Nash's recovery.

The 200-pound chimp was shot and killed by police. Police are still deciding whether its owner, Sandra Herold, of Stamford, will face criminal charges.

Herold's attorney, Joe Gerardi, declined to comment Wednesday.

Herold had asked Nash to come to her home the day of the attack to help lure Travis back into her house. Herold has speculated that the chimp was trying to protect her and attacked Nash because she had changed her hairstyle, was driving a different car and was holding a stuffed toy in front of her face to get Travis' attention.

When he was younger, Travis starred in TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola, made an appearance on the "Maury Povich Show" and took part in a television pilot.

Comments

[katiedex]

12:04 PM on 03/05/2009

This is such a tragic story on every level. The irresponsible woman who kept a wild animal as a pet should be held fully accountable. I hope we learn a lesson from this and stop trying to use wild animals for our own entertainment. I am so sorry for this poor victim, and for the chimp that was forced to live in a way completely foreign to his nature and ended up stabbed and shot. At least his suffering is now over, but this poor woman continues to suffer and her family must endure it with her. I hope they are all able to find peace.

[cobraxus]

11:54 AM on 03/05/2009

a dog attacks and kills a woman in San Fransisco and its owners are put on trial.but a woman keeping a full-grown adult male chimp as her companion is still walking around loose?

[OkieIntellectual]

12:19 PM on 03/05/2009

She should absolutely be prosecuted. It does not matter how many years an animal like a chimp has lived woth or around humans, they are NEVER domesticated. She should have known better.

[CR46]

11:45 AM on 03/05/2009

I feel so badly for her 17 yr old daughter, no matter what happens medically this girl has lost time with her mother and is going through a horrible ordeal of her own. Thank goodness her uncle was able to take this girl in. My thoughts and sympathies are with the Nash family.

[miastella]

11:40 AM on 03/05/2009

Someone mentioned Living Wills. In some states they're so easy you can type it out and have a notary press it and it's done. I'm certainly finishing mine after this story. This woman couldn't even take matters into her own hands if she so chose. We are in a most uncivilized place in medicine --- along with everything else. We need to use our individual conscience to fend off or shape it's outcomes because the law seems unable to.

[MomfromTexas]

10:23 AM on 03/05/2009

This article is being tactful. This morning, MSNBC reported that she has lost her hands, her nose, her lips, and her eyelids, in addition to having probable brain damage. One of her doctors said that he has never seen facial damage like this before. I can't quite figure out what her state is. They say in this article that she's "sedated." It sounds to me like she's being kept in a drug-induced coma.

[CR46]

11:47 AM on 03/05/2009

As a former RN that is exactly how I interpreted it and that is very common in extreme trauma cases, especially if the patient is on a ventilator.

[winningticket]

09:19 AM on 03/05/2009

I grieve for Travis the chimpanzee. May his soul rest in peace. The exploitation and abuse of Chimpanzees must stop. Chimpanzees are not pets, or to be used as clowns in the entertainment world; nor to be used as furry test tubes in the nefarious lab industry. Chimpanzees belong in the wild or at a reputable sanctuary. Chimpanzees, unlike humans can't speak out on their own behalf. It's time to be champs for chimps instead of chumps.

[packynoonan]

11:12 AM on 03/05/2009

I agree totally. Did we learn nothing from Planet of the Apes? If you humans could just put themselves and our species in the place of animals, and imagine how we would feel in that situation things would change for the better.

In all seriousness, I do pray for this woman and her family and her horrific injuries.

[Just2stressed]

09:10 AM on 03/05/2009

They should let this woman go. I would NOT want to live after receiving these injuries. I do not believe in god, so if anyone wants to start commenting that it's god's decision who lives or dies, save your breath.

[Aabby]

10:00 AM on 03/05/2009

Its hers (through a living will) and her family’s decision whether they take heroic measures…and if she’s breathing on her own then you cannot kill her just because she is disfigured, can you? Well I do believe in God and pray for her comfort and ease.

[ellawensmom]

10:35 AM on 03/05/2009

I feel so bad for this poor woman. To suffer these painful and psychologically devastating injuries would seem like more than anyone could bear. To lose one's hands is bad enough, but to lose your face, too, is absolutely apalling. While I would agree that letting her go would seem like the best and most merciful plan, I think it should be up to her and her family if they are ABLE to make the decision, which she may not be...After all, what is unsurvivable to some of us, is totally survivable to others. There are some very strong people in this world who take these kinds of tragedies and turn them into personal victories...Don't ask me how they have the courage, but they do!

[ScapeGoat]

09:00 AM on 03/05/2009

Jane Goodall offered to take the Chimp off her hands and place him in a special home for chimps. Goodall warned her that the chimp was dangerous but she refused to heed the warning.

She should be held responsible for what happened.
There should be laws that prohibit the keeping of adult chimps.

http://www.examiner.com/x-1028-Pet-News-Examiner~y2009m2d19-Dr-Jane-Goodall-Chimpanzees-dont-make-good-pets-Travis-pet-chimp-attacks-woman

[ResistanceisFutile]

08:47 AM on 03/05/2009

If my relatives let me wake up from this nightmare I would take out a contract on their lives.

This is the insanity of our medical system and our self righteous religious community.

[Aabby]

10:07 AM on 03/05/2009

and if she’s breathing on her own then you cannot kill her just because she is disfigured, can you?

[ResistanceisFutile]

10:15 AM on 03/07/2009

Yes you can. It is the merciful thing to do!

[dayala]

08:25 AM on 03/05/2009

how tragic for this woman and for the Chimp who lost his life for being...um...a "Chimp".

on a side note...Nightline aired a segment last night about horrific mistreatment of Chimps at a research lab in Louisiana.

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=6997869&page=1

truly a sad, disgraceful commentary on the impact of human ignorance on other living beings.

[gorgol]

05:23 AM on 03/05/2009

Okay..lets all put on your thinking caps...we have an adult woman...taking care of an adult male chimpanzee...and from what I read in one article..this "woman" even bathed with this 'adult' male chimpanzee. And we all know what male chimpanzees want to do when they reach "puberty "...don't we.
Now connect the rest of the dots here, and this wasn't just a woman having a chimpanzee as a "cute pet".
Sorry for the reality check...but I refuse to believe this was just a "Having Tea with Coco the Chimp"...kind of relationship.

[thegreek621]

09:06 AM on 03/05/2009

dont forget the xanax she gave the chimp... or at least i think it was xanax

[Dana D]

09:52 AM on 03/05/2009

I'm gagging.

[groucho]

02:03 AM on 03/05/2009

Leave animals where they belong. And while we're at it, can we all stop having 4 and 5 kids? All the places racoons, squirrels, mountain lions, etc. are being taken over by humans. Enough already.

[BigCheese]

01:32 AM on 03/05/2009

I, for one, welcome our new chimp overlords.

[Perigee]

09:42 AM on 03/17/2009

Ah, I see that /b/ has finally arrived.

[Pseudocide]

01:13 AM on 03/05/2009

I hope this raises a little awareness for the over-zealous animal lovers to the fact that:

A lot of the animals on this planet with us are very dangerous and it's a good thing that we keep their populations under control and NOT try to humanize them and/or domesticate them as house pets. it would take thousands of years of controlled breeding + evolution to remove aggressive and hostile instincts most animals have evolved with.

The chimp's owner should be charged with negligent homicide IMO considering the victim had her face being eaten off, hands missing, blindness and potential brain damage.. she's as good as dead. It would be no different than if I kept a lion in my spare bedroom, had a relative come over to visit and the lion ate them one night, would that be seen as a tragic accident? No, that would be a crime because I was keeping a dangerous animal in a residential area, same as this woman did and now her friend is as good as dead.

[ellawensmom]

10:38 AM on 03/05/2009

I agree with you. There should be some responsibility handed to the woman who kept a dangerous, SHOULD BE wild animal in a residential area. Not only that, but from what I understood from the story, the Chimpanzee was already out-of-control, and she had called her friend over to help calm it down. What a lousy effing friend!

[Symphysodon]

12:52 AM on 03/05/2009

I think we can all learn something from this tragedy.

1. If your neighbors have wild animals they consider members of the family.... It's time to move.
2. If your friends call you up and ask you to help them calm down any wild animals, family members or not.... It's time to get new friends.

Unfortunately in situations like these it's never the crazy person who gets maimed or killed, it's always the innocent bystander or poor unsuspecting neighbor who's face gets eaten off. That Chimp's "Mother" should be put up against a wall and shot.