The Animal Within

It wasn't home, but LaDonna Davis was realizing it might be the best they could do for their boy. "You can't spend your entire life in battle," she says.

A Vicious Attack

Primatologists say the animal sanctuary was almost certainly the best move for the chimp. For all the love lavished on him, he needed his space. The attacks on the police officer and the visitor were symptoms of discontent.

"He was caged up and frustrated and a little bit territorial," says Craig Stanford, a professor of anthropology and biology at the University of Southern California. He needed the companionship of other chimps. At Animal Haven Ranch, he had them.

The 22-acre nonprofit sanctuary was founded by Virginia and Ralph Brauer to provide a home for exotic pets who had worn out their welcome, castoffs from circuses and zoos. The Brauers had six primates in addition to Moe, who as a 38-year-old newcomer to the animal world was kept in his own cage.

In a cage nearby were four other chimps, veterans of somewhat rougher environments: Susie, 59, was a former breeder chimp who had lost an arm in an accident. Bones, 40, had been rescued from an abusive home. The other two were young males, 16-year-old Buddy and 13-year-old Ollie, who had worked for a Hollywood animal trainer until they grew too strong and aggressive.

The Davises began making the three-hour drive to see Moe every 10 days or so, bringing enough food for the entire menagerie as a way of compensating the Brauers. Yet LaDonna Davis says she never ventured over to visit the other chimps.

"They were just . . . different animals," she says carefully.

The day of the attack, March 3, started as a happy one -- the day they celebrated as Moe's 39th birthday. The couple arrived about 10 a.m. with special treats -- candy hearts, new toys and a beautiful sheet cake with raspberry filling. They unloaded the groceries at the Brauers' back door, and as her husband headed toward the cage with Moe's favorite chocolate drink, Davis remembers seeing their chimp clap his hands with joy.

She put the cake on the table next to Moe's cage and made another trip to the car for the rest of the presents. She returned and started putting out plates just as her husband refilled Moe's cup. She cut two pieces of cake. When St. James handed one to Moe through an opening in the cage, the chimp dug in immediately, smearing blue icing all over his lips.

As LaDonna moved to cut her own piece, she glimpsed something to her left. It was one of the teenage male chimps. He was out of his cage.

"I made eye contact with him," she says. "That instantly changed his demeanor."

He slammed into her backside, knocking her into St. James. She thinks she must have thrown her arm around her husband's neck, and just like that, the chimp "just chomped off my thumb."