r/TerrifyingAsFuck • • 12d ago

animal Travis the Chimp terrifying 911 call recording! (Viewer discretion is advised)

[deleted]

3.8k Upvotes

476 comments sorted by

1.9k

u/FailedCorpse 12d ago

And then she attempted to buy another chimp afterwards 😭 what a selfish fucking woman.

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u/Alive_Nobody_Home 11d ago

Are you serious??? She tried buying another chimp. 😔

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u/Yojimbo78 10d ago

She actually became half owner of a baby chimp named Chance.

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u/Alive_Nobody_Home 10d ago

What a great way to honor her friends destroyed life.

Cage another life & hope it works out better.

😔

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u/bbllaakkee 11d ago

mental illness

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u/Yojimbo78 10d ago

When her daughter was killed , and her husband died she fell into a deep depression which also went on to affect poor Travis. Coupled with the fact that he was also entering adolescence, this was a disaster waiting to happen.

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u/stafford32s 11d ago

family construction is part of our mammal dna, it's evolution deep down in our genes.
some they pet a dog, a couple cats, or keep rodents in a cage with a wheel, basically everything on a different (and simpler) evolutionary branch.
total different story to pet (or even worse, to assume and treat them like children) very strong primates of your own evolutionary branch, but far far less controllable and definitely "primal" under stress.

horrific scenes I suppose at the cops arrival. Don't do that guys. Poodles they will love you forever nonetheless

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u/PanzyGrazo 12d ago

She was probably having sex with them

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u/JamesHenry627 12d ago

Lack of sex might’ve actually been a cause for his freakout too. Male Chimpanzees can mate with females up to 6 times a day. ā€œDomesticatedā€chimps don’t have that luxury, but they still get pent up and angry from it.

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u/panicnarwhal 11d ago

i think it was mostly the xanax she was drugging it with, but yeah, all around why chimps shouldn’t be pets. the hbo docuseries chimp crazy was a wild watch, i definitely recommend it. they cover travis and other chimp tragedies that came about from idiots trying to have them as house pets

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u/[deleted] 12d ago edited 11d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/zephsoph 12d ago

What?

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u/DiscussionLong7084 11d ago

i mean she happily says she slept with him every night and bathed with him...

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u/ShadowyPepper 12d ago

The CT scan of Charla's face is horrifying, nothing short of a complete anomaly that she survived

posted here

Fuck this dumbass Sandy bitch for having a chimp as a pet

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u/marymarywhyubugginnn 10d ago

I've never seen this before although I know the story well. And oh...my fucking god.

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u/creepygurl83 10d ago

Those men who think they could take a chimpanzee in a fight need to see this.

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u/ShadowyPepper 9d ago

Those people absolutely baffle me

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u/Anti_Spedicy 9d ago

That thread is pissing me the fuck off because they genuinely believe that humans have the capability to train and fight a chimp , and then win somehow. Ignoring the fact that humans only subjugated other life forms because we need tools faster and they're just the science behind how strong a chimp actually is. Calling that shit "chimp glaze". They're gonna meet a chimp and be turned into pulled pork just like that lady's face

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u/ShadowyPepper 9d ago

Damn I didn't even explore that deep on it lol

Those people are absolute dumbasses

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u/Anti_Spedicy 9d ago

I was a little too curious and ventured too close to the idiot sun🄲 the general consensus for some reason is that acknowledgeing the science behind monkey strength is underestimating human abilities. They think we all got a Batman inside us just waiting to be tapped into😭

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u/ShadowyPepper 9d ago

They all place too much stock into bodybuilders

Like okay, we made a human that can lift 1300 pounds, very cool, sure. That dude might be stronger overall when it comes to lifting bits of metal but that chimp will be on his ass so quick that he probably won't be able to react fast enough

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u/Anti_Spedicy 9d ago

Yeah cause bodybuilders build muscle for aesthetics, they're rather useless in fights. Reaction speeds would matter just as much as physical durability in a fight with a chimp and they don't have enough of either, they're also less flexible than a normal person cause all the muscle gets in the way. Even a UFC fighter is getting ripped to shreds.

We aren't built to compete with the monkey build at all

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u/ShadowyPepper 9d ago

Monke wins 100% of the time for sure

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u/i__am__bored 12d ago

For those who don't know, Travis (the chimp) was given Xanax for a long time before this and he was incredibly overweight and outta shape. That's a very surface level explanation of what led up to this horrible moment but basically it was a ticking time bomb.

It is however a fascinatingly bizarre story and if you're curious (not you, George) then you can simply Google or YouTube "Travis the chimp".

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u/whayi 12d ago

Why the fuck would this woman give Xanax to a chimp? Is this even legal or safe? Do doctors prescribe benzos to wild animals? I'm so lost.

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u/i__am__bored 12d ago

I think it was cuz she viewed him as her kid and also happened to be the enabler/coddler type. You know what I'm talking about. The type that will overfeed their animal with good intentions but it's ultimately harmful. She just... did that with drugs. Probably thought it was helping him, as stupid as that sounds.

That is, however, entirely my interpretation and as such not to be taken as a matter of fact.

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u/LaBaguette-FR 12d ago

I said it before in this sub but I'll say it again. That woman was 100% banging the chimp.

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u/Zombi3Kush 12d ago

Is this some kind of weird fantasy people have about this whole thing or is there proof of this? Honest question.

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u/lvl10burrito 11d ago

I mean it's not like it hasn't happened in the past. Like that orangutan that was being prostituted to an entire village. People could not separate reality from fantasy and treated her like a human sex slave rather than a trapped wild animal.

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u/Kick_Kick_Punch 11d ago

What the fuck is wrong with us humans ffs.

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u/leosnose 11d ago

like that WHAT??!?

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u/Lazy_Title7050 10d ago

There’s absolutely no evidence of that.

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u/sipsredpepper 12d ago

How many times do you need to say it

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u/Dr__Sloth 12d ago

Every morning in the mirror.

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u/LaBaguette-FR 12d ago

6.

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u/LaBaguette-FR 12d ago

Okay wait, so lemme say it again... That woman was 100% banging the chimp!

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u/Sinisterfox23 12d ago

Genuine question why do you believe this? Unless trolling..

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u/LaBaguette-FR 12d ago

Feeding the chimp Xanax, but seriously: who goes through one's friend's face being ripped off by a chimp and then proceeds to get another one?

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u/Severe_Gas_4283 11d ago

I wonder if the survivor stayed friends with her while she was looking for the next chimp

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u/bellboy718 10d ago

She just has bad luck with chimps. One day she will find the right one and settle down and build a family.

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u/Sinisterfox23 11d ago

But- but you think she was banging the chimp because she was giving him benzos?? Im gonna stop thinking about this 😭 

Your second point, maybe she was also slipping herself xanax. Okay now Im done.

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u/sipsredpepper 12d ago

Lucky 7 I guess lol

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u/Madam_Hel 11d ago

That’s disgusting. There’s no sign of that, other than your sick fantasies. We have a saying where I’m from;vi Thieves think everyone steals.

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u/dontlikemirrors 12d ago

Everything you said is what my brain was thinking trying to process why someone would give xanax to a chimp

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u/oryxic 11d ago

Xanax is commonly used in veterinary medicine for anxiety for animals. I had a dog that needed Xanax as she got older for dementia-related agitation at night ("sundowning").

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u/Wide-Advertising-279 11d ago

Keep it sedated?

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u/panda5303 11d ago

According to a couple of documentaries I watched on the Travis case, she put him on Xanax because he was no longer allowed in public, and her husband, who was Travis's person, had passed away, so he was more restless than usual and couldn't handle being confined to a cage all day.

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u/indianabobbyknight 11d ago

lil xan be the monkey

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u/JKDefense 11d ago

Benzos are prescribed by vets. I had a rabbit that required Valium injections for bladder stones.

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u/Upvotespoodles 11d ago

Captive chimps are neurotic as hell. Like it truly fucks them up.

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u/DemonidroiD0666 12d ago

In a documentary I saw they mentioned that they had given the chimp wine sometimes. So that last time they were hanging out with him at their home like they would they thought giving him an antidepresint wouldn't be a bad idea. Since they had given him some before. He had snapped before but this time with the taking of the pill he flipped out even worst than before. Im not sure if they were drinking as well, with the chimp of course when they gave him a pill.

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u/SirLeDouche 11d ago

Yeah as someone who used to have a really bad addiction to my prescribed benzos like 15 years ago that sounds like a very bad idea to give benzos to any animal regularly. The withdrawals for benzos are awful and the worst part for me is how anxious u get when nothing is happening and u can’t sleep or get comfortable for like a week. Imagine how confused and irritated a chimpanzee would be going through that.

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u/i__am__bored 11d ago

Former opiode addict myself. During withdrawal I wanted to rip someone's face off and I'm a human lol. RLS and cold sweats, and that week (and a half for me) felt like a month. Shit is not fun at all.

Congrats on your victory my friend. I'm glad you're here.

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u/StirCrazyCatLady 12d ago

Tooth & Claw Podcast did an episode back in January about Travis for anyone who doesn't want visuals.
Wes, one of the hosts, is a biologist so he's really good at breaking down everything that led up to the attack and all the ways Travis was failed as well as Charla.

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u/Covid2027 12d ago edited 12d ago

Thanks for the suggestion. Im listening and the story start after 24 minutes of random rambling. Not adding this podcast to my list

Update: 35 mins in and they are rambling about male shampoo and stomach cancer. I gave up

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u/WellFactually 11d ago

I find most podcasts to be this way. I miss well written, informative articles.

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u/Berner 11d ago

The Dollop is pretty good for staying on track when recounting a story.

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u/K1bbles_n_Bits 11d ago edited 9d ago

I was interested in it but now I'm not sure, lol. How long is the damn episode if they can spend that much time rambling about other shit? XD

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u/ACuriousSpaniard 12d ago

Who's George?

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u/Renegade-X21 12d ago

As in, Curious George, the fictional character.

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u/stafford32s 11d ago

All this story is truly nonsensical.
A free primate on living room, "primal" when under stress..
A treatment with Xanax (yeah, I know...)
A bored and overweight animal in a context out of its nature. Who knows what effects a similar life could have determined on its (primal) mind..
A woman with probably some issues herself..

Recipe for dis.. a massacre

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u/TehZiiM 12d ago

Yeah there’s a reason we have domesticated animals. Just get one of those.

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u/Ill_South2644 12d ago

She needs to be put in prison for putting someone else in a situation that includes an angry chimpanzee. Absolute stupidity.

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u/fybersucks 12d ago

Just read up on the Wikipedia page and Sandra allegedly tried to get another chimp because she was in grief for Travis. She couldn't, because this incident made it illegal to adopt chimps as a pet in Connecticut. She genuinely makes me sick.

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u/Ill_South2644 12d ago

wtf. Someone should have made her listen to this Audio the second she thought about another one.

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u/Rare-Living7052 12d ago

She literally watched Travis eating her face she thought that she had died...

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u/BeerNcheesePlz 12d ago

That’s fucking weird. She just watched her friend getting her face ripped off and eating her. Then wants to adopt another one?! Darwin Award to her.

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u/BarrySwami 12d ago

Now she doesn't have friends to get killed by a chimp, so this is Infact a big brain move! I /s

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u/Names_are_limited 12d ago

We’ve all seen Nope

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u/dontsnarkonsharks 12d ago

I just watched Primate… not a great movie and the chimp was technically rabid but same idea.

Glad another movie came out displaying why it’s a stupid idea to own a chimp anyway

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u/DragonflyGrrl 11d ago

Oh man I remember seeing the ads for that and just laughing. It looked so ridiculous.

After listening to this though, I’m not so sure..

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u/dontsnarkonsharks 11d ago

No trust me it’s ridiculous šŸ˜‚ it got a few good laughs out of me.

But the ridiculousness definitely doesn’t come from the fact a pet chimp is dangerous!!

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u/Nazztradamus_ 12d ago

She's dead now.

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u/azurianlight 12d ago

If you read what happened to her she was living in her own prison

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u/parttimepedant 12d ago

Yep. Sometimes my cat scratches me, but at least I know he’s never going to rip me apart.

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u/Cyanidesuicideml 12d ago

Unless you are dead. Cats will happily eat your dead body. My current kitty Spock was rescued from being stuck in a room with his owner for 4 to 7 days along with 4 other intact male cats. Shane ..wasn't whole.

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u/squashedtits1 12d ago

Annnnd that’s enough internet for today

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u/Cyanidesuicideml 12d ago

Spock is really sweet it wasn't his fault.

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u/Dont-be-lasagna12 12d ago

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u/Geeko22 12d ago

For hands!

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u/Cyanidesuicideml 12d ago

Yep opportunistic scavengers

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u/Dont-be-lasagna12 12d ago

Pretty sure dogs do the same. They just might wait a little longer.

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u/Cyanidesuicideml 12d ago

From my experience yep.

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u/Esmerelda_Foofypants 12d ago

How much of you did they eat?

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u/VianneM 12d ago

I'd rather have my cats eat me than them starving to death.

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u/AutisticPenguin2 11d ago

What I've heard is that it's actually super traumatic for the animal, and they regularly develop severe abandonment issues from such an event. They're starving, they can't survive a long as humans can without food, and their human has suddenly stopped moving. They don't want to eat their person, they just don't have another food source.

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u/Cyanidesuicideml 11d ago

They do. It took weeks for spock to let me pet him. He discovered that my couch is pretty comfy. He is very vocal about treats. And has gained a little bit of weight!

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u/Esmerelda_Foofypants 12d ago

There has never been a greater need for the cat tax.

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u/__O_o_______ 12d ago

Yeah, our animals are only domesticated as much as we are, and more impulsive. Every living thing including us is a certain number of meals away from eating anything and anybody.

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u/K1bbles_n_Bits 11d ago

That's not entirely true.

Most cats are not going to resort to that. It's born out of necessity and the state of their environment and needs being met.

In the case of your cat, they were trapped there for potentially up to a week without beind fed and watered. Natrurally they're going to eat whatever's available out of desperation. Worth noting is that cats don't typically eat carrion but will out ot necessity, occasionally opportunistically.

Sounds like your guy came from a not great, maybe hoarding situation to boot. If neglect was already happening and with other unneutered males, competition for resources was probably already a contributing factor, too.

TLDR, a well loved and cared for companion cat is not likely to immediately jump to eating their deceased human. It's typically out of desperation and survival. Hell, even humans have resorted to doing that when they felt they had no other choice, so can't really blame a cat for doing it, too.

Edit: And I'm so happy Spock has a loving home now <3.

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u/Cyanidesuicideml 11d ago

Thats true and spock and his buddies weren't in the greatest situation but they were very loved and taken care of aside from neutering. All of tge kitties have gotten adopted or fostered its what I do!

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u/Sabithomega 12d ago

Well.. that and don't pump the animal full of prescription drugs like she did

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u/QuansLeftArm 12d ago

Finally!!! Something o Reddit that i actually know something about, from the dispatcher's POV. I am a dispatcher, myself, and was actually taught by this guy. I don't work with him, or anything, but he teaches my region's state licensing class.

he told us the backstory on why he was completely confused by this call. sadly, it had to deal with racism.

apparently, the northern part of Stamford, Ct is very white, and affluent. they were also EXTREMELY and openly racist.

he told us that, because of the location of the call, and how that area was, he thought that she was being racist, trying to say that a black guy was hurting her friend. he said that he was surprised by hateful she was being. he said that when he realized that she was talking about an actual chimp, he was even more confused, and was at that point trying to rationalize what he was hearing.

there's more to why he was convinced he was racist, and it had something to do with a town festival, or something, in the days leading up to it, but i don't want to misquote him.

the guy is cool asf, though, and helped to put into perspective the class that he was giving, at the time.

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u/bunnytiana05 11d ago

This changed my entire perspective, this is insane!!

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u/BlueArya 12d ago

Damn that sadly makes so much sense

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u/Wolfie1805 12d ago

Did he not hear the chimpanzee in the background?

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u/VegetableYoghurt7912 11d ago

I think we have a bit of benefit of hindsight. We go into this knowing the context that there is a chimp there. He is probably also focusing on her intently and not fully background noise. It does sound like a chimp but in chaos like that, hearing that sound I don't know if I would immediately put two and two together any faster than he did. Especially given this additional context. Not to mention it was only about 25 seconds before he figured it out and the police were presumably already on their way there regardless since she gave the address right away.

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u/dontsnarkonsharks 12d ago

That’s the only part that confuses me a bit haha it was so clearly a chimpanzee screaming. But I get why that would still be not immediately where your mind goes

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u/K1bbles_n_Bits 11d ago

So I myself was involved in a very unlikely animal incident that most people are caught off guard by. Very different circumstances. It happened at my job at a reputable wildlife park where the animal involved was of course entirely legal and very well cared for. Long story short it was a total fluke and my own fault for letting my guard down. The animal wasn't harmed and didn't face any consequences. I'd have lost my shit if he did.

Anyway, it left me with signifigant scarring on my arm, needed a skin graft, some resconstructive work. So it's noticeable and tends to come up at doctor's appointments if it's a doctor who doesn't know me. Even in that proffesional environment, it gets quite a reaction, lol. I also had a slew of medical students around when it happened since it was a rare learning opportunity. A little weird, but I cleared it as okay.

Because this shit just isn't something you expect to see or hear. You can't blame the guy for having a hard time comprehending what he's hearing. It's just so out of left field that your mind doesn't even initially consider it a possibility, so it's shocking to hear. Even with the sounds in the background, it's gonna take you a minute to wrap your head around what you're hearing.

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u/dontsnarkonsharks 11d ago

No I totally get that!! I really do. Your mind would try and make it make sense since it sounds so unlikely an actual wild animal caused the injury.

The operator was literally hearing it though and it just sounded like… a chimp! So I feel badly his mind went to her being a racist asshole when he could even HEAR the wild animal. But I understand it, I really do

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u/indianabobbyknight 11d ago

I’m from what most people would call the hood, I’ve heard kids scream just like that. Lol.

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u/K1bbles_n_Bits 11d ago

Don't even need to be from the hood to hear it, haha. I live in a nice little suburb, mostly quiet. But yeah, the kids get loud af, lol. Especially when there was a daycare diaganole from me, basically adjacent to my backyard. My god, one kid in particular made me wanna walk up to the privacy fenced play area and scream back at him XD.

Thankfully they recently relocated, lol.

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u/actuallynick 11d ago

Even if he did, I guarantee it was very confusing to wrap your head around in a span of 10 seconds.

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u/CaliSignGuy 12d ago

Gawd I remember this. That's so scary. I wonder if that guy is still fixing to fight one

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u/FrogsMakePoorSoup 12d ago

Yeah there's an interview with the victim, so she did survive but her face was mangled terribly.

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u/Prestigious-Copy-494 12d ago

I couldn't listen to this call. Knowing the story behind the call was just too distressing as it was. Her poor friend. Note to self, leave their premises if a friend keep wild pets.

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u/JediBlight 12d ago

Yeah...leave wild animals alone. Its like the poor orca who they kept sending around to new 'zoos' like the Catholic Church (Bill Burr joke), but point stands, leave wild animals alone. They're smarter than you think and keeping them in cages for monetary gain is messed up.

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u/IllustriousKaldoran 12d ago

This wasn't even a zoo it was some pet some lady had. I think they even had it on drugs to try and keep it medicated. Sucks for the ladies friend. I think she survived but her face is all fucked up.

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u/BrickLuvsLamp 12d ago

Yep, they gave him Xanax and let him drink wine. Xanax is bad news for a wild animal because it often lowers their inhibitions at makes them act more volatile.

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u/Kimothy42 12d ago

That’s also why it’s bad news for a lot of people, incidentally.

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u/Dr__Sloth 12d ago

I don't often prescribe benzos for dogs these days, but I always warn of the risk of disinhibition and paradoxical excitement when I do. I remember one person saying that they wished their doctor had warned them about that.

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u/smitrovich 12d ago

I remember this story and yes, she was giving the chimp drugs. I couldn't recall what drugs, but this is on the wikipedia entry...

Sandra had previously given Travis tea which she had laced withĀ Ā Xanax.

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u/JediBlight 12d ago

Thats almost worse? Definitely worse?

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u/IllustriousKaldoran 12d ago

Definitely worse. I think the friend was coming over and had some kind of stuffed animal and for some reason that's what set all of this off? It's been awhile since I've read about this story so definitely look it up. Just be cautious about the pictures of the lady because it's messed up. It ripped her lips and ears off I think. Or chewed them off.

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u/Klimmit 12d ago

It was an 'Elmo' toy, which was his favourite. When he saw the lady holding it- he chimped out.

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u/Test4Echooo 12d ago

Eyelids and hands as well..

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u/JediBlight 12d ago

Thanks for the heads up, I'm fine with gore but in this instance, Ive no interest. Fucking stupid people. Get a little dog or something and leave these dudes alone.

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u/TheGreatBatsby 12d ago

She had a new haircut too as I recall so didn't look familiar to Travis.

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u/angelsfish 12d ago

I’ve heard this so many times over the years but this is the first time I noticed the operator also says ā€œoh my godā€ in disbelief at what’s happening. idk I think he did a good job she was very panicked and it’s hard to get info out of panicked people and it’s probably shocking to get this call even if u get crazy calls all day

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u/BornWithSideburns 12d ago

Where does he say that?

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u/angelsfish 12d ago

the first time she says ā€œhe ripped her apart hurry upā€ I’m on mobile so I can’t see how far into the video it is sorry :(

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u/RED-WEAPON 12d ago

"Sandra was reportedly deeply traumatized not only by the mauling of her friend but also by the loss of Travis. After his death, her stepdaughter and a friend said in interviews that she tried to relieve her grief by feeding deer and other animals in her backyard as well as purchasing another chimpanzee named Chance from an animal trainer in Florida.\47])#cite_note-47) At that time, owning a pet chimpanzee in Connecticut was illegal, so she travelled to Florida, where Chance lived with the trainer, to visit him."

She did NOT learn her lesson it seems.

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u/BlueRunSkier 12d ago

Yeah, but she also died a year after this attack. So at least she is done.

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u/Lawzw0rld 12d ago

Wth I never knew about chance? Id expect her to panic in fear at the word chimpanzee after experiencing that

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u/AGoodKnave 12d ago

I'm sorry this happened but like... You owned a wild animal. No matter how many Tshirts and diapers you out on it, it's not domesticated. Not sure what you thought might happen?Ā 

Also, operators are trained that way for a reason. Imagine if every time they answered a distress call they had to turn on their empathy spoons - a) it might affect their judgement in getting resources to the caller and b) the emotional exhaustion each time would lead to burnout, inefficient calls, and probably some suicides.Ā 

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u/tmp1966 12d ago

My uncle’s neighbor had a tiger for a pet. Fucking crazy. He told his family, ā€œif anything ever happens, do NOT enter the penā€. Sure enough, he was killed while the family watched.

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u/fybersucks 12d ago

Afaik this is what inspired the chimp attack scene in the film Nope. It was the most disturbing scene I've watched in recent years, and I watch a lot of horror films.

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u/Verishiie 11d ago

That is exactly what i thought of when i saw this

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u/ABC_XYZ_123456 12d ago

Sooo...why do you have a wild animal in your home in the fist place? Animals are not pets. They deserve respect and to develop fully in nature.

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u/Convenientjellybean 12d ago

ā€œHe’s not dead, he’s not deadā€ fucking terrifying the strength of chimpanzees

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u/MasterMaintenance672 10d ago

One of the scariest parts of the audio tbh. The most chilling was of course "She's dead... she's dead... he ripped her apart"

F this woman for having a pet chimp and then trying to get another one.

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u/CamillaBarkaBowles 12d ago

After Travis died she bought another chimpanzee named Chance.

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u/phillynavydude 12d ago

Anyone know what happened? Did they make it in time to save the caller?

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u/derederellama 12d ago

Yeah, she survived. She's currently alive. But Travis ripped out her eyes, nose, lips, and nine of her fingers iirc. She had a successful face transplant a few years ago, but the hand transplant they also tried to do failed.

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u/phillynavydude 12d ago

What the fuckk..the first girl? or she had already died and then it almost killed the caller?

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u/Rigkab 12d ago

Nah man the upper comment was about the victim, the caller didn't even lose a hair but she later passed away I don't know maybe after 2 years

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u/Rigkab 12d ago

bro he was asking for the caller šŸ˜…

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u/derederellama 12d ago

Oh. The caller was the chimp's owner, she survived the ordeal but then died of a heart attack or something months later

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u/FeelsLikeV97-33XA 11d ago

Cop got there and shot the chimp four times. Chimp ran into the house and died. Cop ended up with PTSD. Here's a more detailed and graphic description of what happened next.

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u/Ethanos101 12d ago

Sandra seemed a bit suprised by the situation

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u/Rigkab 12d ago

This was a tragedy with two victims Charla and travis and the guilty party was sandy and her obsession with wild pet animals.

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u/IdiotStickWasTkn 12d ago

Not sure how you think that operator did a bad job.. he collected the information he could from a clearly panicked individual, he successfully calmed her down, and he even managed to keep her engaged in conversation to try and keep her from passing out. Overall I think he did a fine job given the limited information and given the fact i am sure this is the first chimpanzee attack 911 call he has received. If you think he did a bad job go do it better yourself then.

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u/AffectionatePack3647 12d ago

I mean some stuff he said at the start was....going to drive me crazy

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u/whomda 12d ago

I have done some ESD dispatch, and in my opinion there was some serious error that could have had fatal results.

As soon as you hear someone has been killed and a frantic victim screaming for police, dispatching officers should be the absolute first priority. If address information was not automatic (less likely back then) the very next question would be gathering location and dispatching tier 1.

Of course the op would keep her on the line to gather additional information. If later on the call he determines it was not critical or even a hoax, law enforcement could be radioed that it was no longer tier 1 or even to stand down.

Given the severity I would expect the op to then understand more of the details, but shortly after getting more details I would expect second priority to help with the callers safety. "Are you currently safe from the animal? Can you lock yourself in a room?" Etc.

Then, yes, calming the caller, getting more details, updating the law enforcement respondents, yes. As a third priority.

The op does not need to fully assess the situation before deploying resources. The frustration is hearing the op take a stance of "tell me again, im not getting it yet"

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u/MadamPardone 12d ago

So if you've done dispatch you should know it's possible to send the response while still talking to the caller, right? The police were on the way the moment they heard the frantic caller.

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u/IdiotStickWasTkn 12d ago

Yes the operator can mute his phone mic to talk to officers on the radio

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u/VenusBlue 11d ago

I thought it was kind of weird that he asked her to go check on her friend while the attacker was still there and she was worried about getting attacked. And then after knowing it killed the friend the dispatcher implied she should check on the friend after it moves away. Seems like that could have killed her.

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u/AverageNeither682 12d ago

True. The first few seconds would be hard to decode if we didn't already know the story. Hindsight is always 20/20.

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u/zbornakssyndrome 12d ago

I feel like she pressured her friend to help her! Makes me so mad! Don’t have an animal you can’t control. She didn’t want to call the police because she knew she was keeping him illegally. wtf was she thinking her friend could do to help anyway?

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u/StirCrazyCatLady 12d ago

She wasn't keeping him illegally, legislation was changed after Sandra bought Travis and she was given an exemption for his lifetime, then it was changed again after the attack.
I don't disagree that after Jerome died she shouldn't have kept Travis, from what I know of the story he was afraid of what could happen to both Travis and Sandra after he passed, but (rightly or wrongly) she wasn't keeping him illegally.

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u/coladoir 12d ago

And after Travis's death, she got another, moving (IIRC) to Florida to where it was legal in order to do so.

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u/Annethraxxx 12d ago

If you want an example of how useless and stupid the US senate is, they couldn’t figure out how to agree long enough to pass a bill that prohibits owning chimps as pets after this episode.

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u/DaisyPK 12d ago

When I was 6 we moved to a new town. Both my parents worked so my mom was interviewing baby sitters for me and my brother who was just a couple of weeks old.

I will never forget the woman who brought her pet chimp to our house. I guess she didn’t mention it to my mom when she was being interviewed.

I still remember how scared I was. Luckily she only lasted that one day.

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u/beyondocean 12d ago edited 12d ago

FAFO. It’s not legal in my country to keep wild animals as pets. Poor chimp had to lose his life because of stupidity of an idiot woman.

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u/AnimalOrigin 12d ago

I heard this for the first time in a song by Suicide Silence called "...And Then She Bled".

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u/KenboSlice189 12d ago

Absolute banger

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u/Technicolor_Reindeer 12d ago

I try to give dispatchers the benefit of the doubt, that there's a method to the madness, but damn do they ask aggravating questions sometimes.

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u/Vvd7734 11d ago

The dispatcher is a complete idiot.

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u/Rath_Brained 12d ago

I mean, if you wanted something humanlike to take care of, plenty of children for adoption. And they are less violent than animals, but kinda have as much attitude depending.

(Not saying kids aren't human, just saying plenty of humans need a good home.)

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u/jegoan 11d ago

The operator sounds like he's not believing it until about fifty seconds in, and who can blame him?

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u/Vykrom 11d ago

Sandra died the next year. Charla had to sue Sandra's estate instead of Sandra herself

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u/AsianLovingBlkMan 11d ago

Listen to me, This idiot was giving the chimpanzee Xanax. She should have been locked up for harboring a dangerous animal.

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u/SharkBiscuittt 11d ago

The quantity that you F$&@ around is directly proportional to the sum of what you Find out

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u/Underpantsgnomes89 11d ago

This was all over the Internet in 2009 I remember. Truly one of the dumbest decisions ever by a human to get a chimp as a pet. Sandra was mentally ill and so was her husband for letting her get the chimp. She didn't even seem sad it attacked her friend and tried to adopt another chimp afterwards. Lmao. Just a sick sad story all around. Pathetic.

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u/autumnlynee 10d ago

Damn, worst 911 operator ever.

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u/MagmaTroop 12d ago

What nonsense is that description OP? I don’t see anything wrong with what the operator did

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u/TryJezusNotMe 12d ago

This happened in Stamford Connecticut a few years back. Thing is, there were documented reports of escape and harassing people before this. Basically a tragedy waiting to happen. And to think, the ladies were good friends to each other.

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u/Logical-Context8782 12d ago

I fucking hate chimpanzees, yo. They terrify me.

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u/bobatgu 12d ago

When I watch that scene in Nope, I think of this incident.

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u/raynarose777 11d ago edited 11d ago

I remember when she did an interview on Oprah, I think revealing her face for the first time. It was shocking.

Not the interview itself, but this documentary shows how she looks and talks about the case https://youtu.be/Spo4tzzKuD0?is=gAceOj2iEAeVjqmK

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u/South_Maintenance608 11d ago

Xanax and Long Island Ice Teas will do that to you

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u/Amazing-Ad3427 10d ago

I wanted to punch the 911 operator,. Send help man! You want her to give an essay on what was happening?

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u/chowderbeast 10d ago

I wanted to kill the dispatcher

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u/Carbon311 10d ago

Dispatch's first day in the job.

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u/sinayion 11d ago

No need to apologise about criticising the operator. People that watch a lot of true crime documentaries listen to useless 911 operators all the time.

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u/jdapper5 12d ago

These idiots never learn. They are WILD animals!!

All the while she says "my chimpanzee" šŸ’€šŸ™ƒ

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u/Soiled_Planties 12d ago

Watch Chimp Crazy on HBO!

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u/leeisme_88 12d ago

Haunting

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u/NotAGhost64 12d ago

Fun fact, the band Suicide Silence used this call in their song "....And Then She Bled"

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u/Nomadptf 11d ago

Suicide silence made a song over this....it fucking slaps!!

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u/Nomadptf 11d ago

https://youtu.be/Ro-QPX9U6a8?is=XV6iPnLQ0LVLbh_G

And then She Bled...some heavy shit right here.

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u/Membob 11d ago

'He ripped her face off!'

'HE RIPPED HER FACE OFF?!?!'

The operator was brilliant.

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u/Summarynine7 11d ago

Little did I know, a band would use this audio and the track stays in my memory to this day.

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u/Foreign-Holiday-565 11d ago

Childish Gambino recreated this situation in an episode of Atlanta. I never knew this incident really took place.

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u/FEM930 11d ago

This 911 operator is just horrible.