Woman Hospitalized After Attack by Celeb Chimp

Police were forced to shoot the chimp when after the owner, unable to stop the attack, dialed 911. Travis the chimpanzee eventually died of his wounds.

According to reports, Nash suffered serious facial injuries and a severe loss of blood from the chimp attack. She is currently hospitalized at Stamford Hospital.

Stamford police Lt. Richard Conklin said:

"She (Herold) retrieved a large butcher knife and stabbed her longtime pet numerous times in an effort to save her friend, who was really being brutally attacked.

"He's been raised almost like a child by this family. He rides in a car every day, he opens doors, he's a very unique animal in that aspect. We have no indication of what provoked this behavior at all."

Despite that assertion, it should be noted that Travis the chimp had a record: he chimp escaped in 2003 and caused pandemonium on the streets of Stamford for a couple of hours.

Animal Planet host Jeff Corwin told CNN:

"It's often said that an adult chimpanzee weighing in at 150 pounds is three to seven times stronger than a human being.

"The thing about chimpanzees is, we sort of look at them through our rose-colored cultural glasses of the cute little chimp in the 'Tarzan' movie. Those are very young chimps. Chimps grow up, they become very powerful. They are very complex in their behavior. They have a whole range of emotions, including violence and anger."

Travis the chimp was, from reports, 15. Travis appeared on TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola when he was younger, made an appearance on the "Maury Povich Show" and took part in a television pilot. But all those facts will be forgotten in the wake of this attack.

Once again, a wild animal is a wild animal. Chimps have not been domesticated like dogs and cats have (and for those of you with big cats, neither have tigers or lions or the like). Although you may think they are a pet, any little thing can set them off. And then you have an attack like this.