200 pound angry primate “pet” plus Xanax

A woman in Stamford, Connecticut kept a 200 pound chimpanzee as a pet. The chimpanzee became very aggressive. She then gave the chimp tea to drink laced with the anti-depressant Xanax. What happened next is too horrible to repeat, though, since the story is a day old, most readers have probably read it by now.

Here is a story from last September on murders and mass murders that seem to have been triggered by anti-depressants.

Why are people allowed to keep 200 pound primates as pets? Why do we have so many laws and restrictions, but we allow people to keep pit bulls, which regularly maul people, as pets? And I’m tempted to say our whole society needs to go cold turkey on the use of psychoactive drugs for behavioral control. If people no longer have the option of managing young people’s troublesome behavior with a drug, then maybe we’ll get serious about the things we are doing as a society—such as sexual liberation and mass divorce resulting in young boys having no father figure in their lives—that make these drugs necessary.

Update: This story in the Daily News, which has a detailed account of the attack, says the owner tried to give the chimp Xanax, but he didn’t take it.

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Ben W. writes:

I’m sitting here on my sofa, looking at a television program. in which they broadcast the 911 call of the woman in Connecticut whose friend was being attacked by the woman’s chimp. She is heard yelling to the 911 operator, “The chimp is tearing my friend’s off.” The operator asks the woman, “What is he doing?” “He’s ripping my friend’s face off!”

Ah, this creature, the most closely related to us on Darwin’s tree of life, with whom we supposedly share so much genetic information, is tearing this woman’s face off. She domesticated him, pampered him “as a child,” served him human food, had him sleep in their bed, and treated him as a part of the family. Now he was tearing a woman’s face off. Ah yes, so much in common.

This reminded me of the Muslim who hacked off his wife’s head. Another creature with whom we have so much in common. Building bridges between us. Just cut off her head.

At some point common sense has to return to our society. We have very little in common with monkeys and Muslims. They tear your face off; they hack you head off. It is funny to a large extent. Only liberals can envisage monkeys and Muslims in our homes.

Ben continues:

The chimp’s owner was interviewed by NBC and she parrotted the Darwinian line. Chimps are our closest relatives, we share over 90% of our DNA with them, and their blood can be used for human transfusions. She has bought the whole story of they’re being a part of our family or our being a part of their lineage.

LA writes:

It is ironic that this horrible event took place in the middle of all the Darwin celebrations. Maybe man is not just a primate.

Spencer Warren writes:

I have heard several times recently that some fools give their dogs Prozac!!! Why don’t they instead walk their dogs more!

On Xanax, I thought that is a tranquilizer.

LA replies:

Yes, I think it’s anti-anxiety, not anti-depressant.

James R. writes:

“Stamford police Herold told them that she gave Travis Xanax earlier on Monday to calm him because he was agitated. And in an interview aired Wednesday on NBC’s “Today” show she said she gave the chimp some Xanax-laced tea “five minutes” before the attack—she even showed a reporter the mug.”

I can’t help but wonder if some “interested parties” had a chat with Ms. Herold after her claim that the chimp ingested Xanax. To claim that the chimp had no Xanax after showing the mug from which he supposedly drank the Xanax is quite a stretch. The veterinary warning for Xanax, “Use with caution in aggressive animals,” leads one to believe that a “rambunctious” animal might really get out of hand after ingesting Xanax.

see this.

Laura W. writes:

It is interesting to note, regarding the subject of chimps and Darwinism, that Westerners encountered their first live chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas in the 25 years or so before the publication of . She saw another orangutan at the zoo and said that it was “frightful and painfully and disagreeably human.”

LA replies:

Not easy to follow this. Darwin said man was not above apes. While Victoria said that apes were humanlike, but disagreeable? Is your point that Darwin was wrong, in trying to lower man to ape level, while Victoria was right, in saying that apes are a degraded form of the human?

Laura replies:

It’s interesting how they so differed in their reactions. Darwin apparently was awed and inspired because Jenny, who was dressed in children’s clothes for the exhibit, confirmed his already-solidified belief that humans were not above animals. Victoria was repelled. “Disagreeably human” suggests she saw these primates as also inhuman and that she viewed the similarities as illusory.

Mark A. writes:

The love of pets can turn into a form of psychosis. (This woman is quite literally disconnected from reality.) This same woman would probably be terrified to sleep with a .357 magnum under her pillow (or any other inanimate weapon). Animal worship is a behavioral disorder. It was NOT a coincidence that Hitler had (3) German Shepherds whom he treated as people…

Posted by Lawrence Auster at February 18, 2009 09:47 AM | Send