St. James Davis

NASCAR K&N Pro Series West driver St. James Davis and his wife, LaDonna, had a pet chimpanzee named Moe, whom they treated as if he were a child. After he bit several people, the city of West Covina, California seized and placed him in an animal sanctuary near Bakersfield, California. St. James and LaDonna waged a long, unsuccessful legal battle to recover him.

On March 3, 2005, while at the sanctuary on one of their frequent visits with Moe, St. James and LaDonna were attacked by two young male chimpanzees named Buddy and Ollie: they had escaped their enclosures. In the ensuing attack, LaDonna lost her thumb, and St. James was brutally mauled, resulting in permanent disfigurement and missing extremities.

Background

St. James and LaDonna adopted a chimpanzee named Moe in 1967, not long after his birth in Tanzania. Tanzanian poachers had killed his mother when he was one day old, leaving him an orphan. St. James and LaDonna did not have any children, so they raised him as their own. He lived with them in their home, wore clothes, was toilet trained, and took showers. He participated in their wedding; LaDonna said he acted as a "a combination of flower-thrower and best man".

In 1977, when Moe was 10 years old, he bit a woman, injuring her finger. A lawsuit followed, but the case was dismissed. In the 1990s, Moe was housed in a by enclosure at St. James and LaDonna's home. On August 16, 1998, he escaped. They claimed that he had been frightened by an electric shock that occurred while his cage was being repaired. Local police were called, and several officers were required to restrain him. While resisting recapture, he dented a police car and mauled a police officer's hand. The police officer required medical treatment and subsequent rehabilitation costing .

On September 2, 1999, a visitor came to see Moe. St. James and LaDonna claim that they warned her not to attempt to approach his cage, but she extended her hand into it, and he bit her. St. James and LaDonna claimed that she wore red nail polish, and he may have mistaken them for his favorite licorice. She sued, and St. James and LaDonna settled the lawsuit.

West Covina officials seized Moe and relocated him to an animal sanctuary. St. James and LaDonna fought to regain custody of him, but were unsuccessful. In 2002, they filed a civil rights lawsuit against West Covina; the city ultimately agreed to pay them plus for a home purchase in nearby Baldwin Park, California, where they could live with Moe.

Attack

St. James and LaDonna visited Moe regularly at the animal sanctuary. In 2003, the animal sanctuary experienced licensing problems, so he was transferred to Animal Haven Ranch, near Bakersfield, California. It was a nonprofit sanctuary that housed six primates.

On March 3, 2005, St. James and LaDonna came to Animal Haven Ranch to celebrate Moe's 39th birthday. They brought him a birthday cake and were seated at a picnic table next to his enclosure. They brought toys, candy hearts, chocolate milk, and a raspberry-filled sheet cake for the party. LaDonna said he clapped his hands with joy when he saw them. She cut a piece of cake for him and then, when she went to cut a second piece, she noticed another chimp had gotten out of its cage. It rushed up to her and bit her thumb off. St. James pushed her under the table to protect her. A second chimp was also loose. The two young chimps involved in the attack were named Buddy and Ollie. Two female ones named Susie and Bones also escaped from their cages during the attack; they were not involved in the assault on St. James and LaDonna and were recaptured five hours later. Moe did not participate in the attack.

Buddy and Ollie attacked St. James simultaneously; one initially attacked his face, the other attacked his foot. The sanctuary owner's son-in-law, Mark Carruthers, retrieved a .45 caliber revolver and shot Buddy in the head. Meanwhile, Ollie dragged St. James' body down a walkway. Carruthers followed and shot him too.

Buddy and Ollie destroyed a majority of St. James' fingers, his left foot, most of his buttocks, both testicles, part of his torso, and parts of his face including his nose and lips. A paramedic who arrived said, "It looked like a grizzly bear attack." St. James was transported to Loma Linda University Medical Center after the attack.

Aftermath

St. James spent six months in the hospital recovering from the attack, including a period of time when he was in a coma. Between 2005 and 2009, St. James Davis underwent over 60 surgeries. He has a prosthetic eye and two slits in the middle of his face where his nose was. He and LaDonna were uninsured, but initially decided not to sue Animal Haven, before reversing course and filing a lawsuit by 2009.

In 2006, the year following the attack, St. James and LaDonna placed a sign in their front yard that read "Free Moe". They also went to Superior Court in Pomona, California to get the city of West Covina to honor their 2002 settlement which required it to purchase a home for them in Baldwin Park so that they could reunite with Moe. In 2007, the court ruled that West Covina should pay them because it did not fulfill their obligations under the 2002 settlement, pay them $300 per month towards covering the costs of Moe's housing, and covering travel expenses for their visits to him.

Moe disappeared in summer 2008. He had been living at a ranch for performing animals, Jungle Exotics, in San Bernardino. Construction workers reported they had seen him at a home near Jungle Exotics; other witnesses spotted him heading towards a mountain. St. James and LaDonna hired a helicopter to do flyovers in an attempt to flush him out of hiding, and authorities searched the San Bernardino National Forest, but he has never been found.

See also

* List of individual apes

References

{{Reflist, refs=
{{cite news , last1=Pierson , first1=David , last2=Landsberg , first2=Mitchell , title=A Primate Party Gone Horribly Awry , url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-mar-05-me-chimp5-story.html , access-date=January 20, 2023 , work=Los Angeles Times , date=March 5, 2005 , archive-date=January 20, 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120210825/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-mar-05-me-chimp5-story.html , url-status=live
{{cite news , title=Too Close For Comfort , url=https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1044680 , access-date=January 20, 2023 , work=ABC News , date=August 14, 2006 , archive-date=January 20, 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120210822/https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1044680 , url-status=live
{{cite news , title=California chimp attack leaves man in critical condition , url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/california-chimp-attack-leaves-man-in-critical-condition-1.562263 , access-date=January 20, 2023 , publisher=CBC News , date=March 4, 2005 , archive-date=January 20, 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120210825/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/california-chimp-attack-leaves-man-in-critical-condition-1.562263 , url-status=live
{{cite news , last1=Burger , first1=David , title=Year After chimp Attack Man facing more surgeries , url=https://www.bakersfield.com/news/year-after-chimp-attack-man-facing-more-surgeries/article_0289728d-a763-5065-a89a-748988e263bb.html , access-date=January 20, 2023 , publisher=The Bakersfield Californian , date=September 13, 2016 , archive-date=January 20, 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120210825/https://www.bakersfield.com/news/year-after-chimp-attack-man-facing-more-surgeries/article_0289728d-a763-5065-a89a-748988e263bb.html , url-status=live
{{cite news , last1=Hillard , first1=Gloria , title=The Case Of The Missing Chimp , url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92529402 , access-date=January 20, 2023 , agency=NPR , publisher=All Things Considered , date=July 14, 2008 , archive-date=January 20, 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120210823/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92529402 , url-status=live
{{cite news , last1=Curtis , first1=Kim , title=Chimpanzee attack probed Sanctuary visitor severely mauled , url=http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/03/05/chimpanzee_attack_probed/ , access-date=January 20, 2023 , agency=Associated Press , publisher=The Boston Globe , date=March 5, 2005 , archive-date=January 20, 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120210824/http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/03/05/chimpanzee_attack_probed/ , url-status=live
{{cite news , last1=Argetsinger , first1=Amy , title=The animal within , url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7957346 , access-date=January 20, 2023 , publisher=NBC News , date=May 23, 2005 , archive-date=January 20, 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120210825/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7957346 , url-status=live
{{cite news , title=Mauling victim wants to be with his chimp , url=https://www.tahoedailytribune.com/news/mauling-victim-wants-to-be-with-his-chimp/ , access-date=January 20, 2023 , publisher=Tahoe Daily Tribune , date=May 17, 2006 , archive-date=January 20, 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120213422/https://www.tahoedailytribune.com/news/mauling-victim-wants-to-be-with-his-chimp/ , url-status=live
{{cite news , title=Man in chimp attack to receive money , url=https://www.bakersfield.com/news/man-in-chimp-attack-to-receive-money/article%20ca9e5fb6-91e7-51e6-8567-6f186c723846.html , access-date=January 20, 2023 , publisher=The Bakersfield Californian , date=January 30, 2007 , archive-date=January 20, 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120210826/https://www.bakersfield.com/news/man-in-chimp-attack-to-receive-money/article%20ca9e5fb6-91e7-51e6-8567-6f186c723846.html , url-status=live
{{cite news , title=Search for Moe the chimp ongoing , url=https://www.sbsun.com/2008/06/30/search-for-moe-the-chimp-ongoing/ , access-date=January 20, 2023 , work=The Sun , location=San Bernardino, California , date=June 30, 2008 , archive-date=January 20, 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120220002/https://www.sbsun.com/2008/06/30/search-for-moe-the-chimp-ongoing/ , url-status=live
{{cite news , title=Experts not surprised by gruesome chimp attack , url=https://www.sunjournal.com/2005/03/06/experts-surprised-gruesome-chimp-attack/ , access-date=January 20, 2023 , work=Lewiston Sun Journal , date=March 6, 2005 , archive-date=January 20, 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120221359/https://www.sunjournal.com/2005/03/06/experts-surprised-gruesome-chimp-attack/ , url-status=live
{{cite news , last1=Dillon , first1=Nancy , title=Man who lost face in '05 mauling knows hell of new chimpanzee victim , url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/man-lost-face-05-mauling-hell-new-chimpanzee-victim-article-1.364450 , access-date=January 25, 2023 , work=New York Daily News , date=February 22, 2008 , archive-date=January 25, 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125222713/https://www.nydailynews.com/news/man-lost-face-05-mauling-hell-new-chimpanzee-victim-article-1.364450 , url-status=live
{{cite book , last1=Woods , first1=Vanessa , title=Bonobo handshake : a memoir of love and adventure in the Congo , date=2011 , publisher=Penguin Publishing Group , location=New York, New York, U.S.A. , isbn=9781101528839 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4f3RBgAAQBAJ&dq=moe+chimpanzee&pg=PT99 , access-date=January 25, 2023 , archive-date=March 3, 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303184442/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Bonobo_Handshake/4f3RBgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=moe+chimpanzee&pg=PT99&printsec=frontcover , url-status=live
{{cite book , last1=Harvey , first1=Andrew , title=Saving animals from ourselves : a manifesto for healing the divine animal within , date=2019 , publisher=iUniverse , location=Bloomington, IN , isbn=9781532074509 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uhmXDwAAQBAJ&dq=moe+chimpanzee&pg=PT113 , access-date=January 25, 2023 , archive-date=March 3, 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303184523/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Saving_Animals_from_Ourselves/uhmXDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=moe+chimpanzee&pg=PT113&printsec=frontcover , url-status=live
{{cite news , last1=Mia Dimassa , first1=Cara , title=2 Cities Can't Get the Hang of Chimp's Situation , url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-may-10-me-chimp10-story.html , access-date=February 14, 2023 , work=Los Angeles Times , date=May 10, 2002 , archive-date=February 14, 2023 , archive-url=https://archive.today/20230214202641/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-may-10-me-chimp10-story.html , url-status=bot: unknown
{{cite news , last1=Schapiro , first1=Rich , title=The Worst Story I Ever Heard , url=https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a5609/chimpanzee-attack-0409/ , access-date=February 14, 2023 , publisher=Esquire Magazine , date=November 11, 2009 , archive-date=July 27, 2022 , archive-url=https://archive.today/20220727002337/https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a5609/chimpanzee-attack-0409/ , url-status=bot: unknown

External links

YouTube Video - St. James tells the story of Moe (2009)

Primate attacks
History of Kern County, California
2005 in California
March 2005 events in the United States
Chimpanzees
Animal attacks in the United States