NASCAR K&N Pro Series West driver St. James Davis and his wife, LaDonna, had a pet
chimpanzee
The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...
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
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...
. 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
![The City of West Covina California Honorary Citizen certificate for the chimpanzee Moe](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/The_City_of_West_Covina_California_Honorary_Citizen_certificate_for_the_chimpanzee_Moe.jpg)
St. James and LaDonna adopted a chimpanzee named Moe in 1967, not long after his birth in
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
.
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
Liquorice (British English) or licorice (American English) ( ; also ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring can be extracted.
The liq ...
. 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
Baldwin Park is a city located in the central San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,176, down from 75,390 at the 2010 census.
History
Baldwin Park began as p ...
, 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
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...
. It was a
nonprofit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
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
A picnic table (or picnic bench) is a table with benches (often attached), designed for working with and for outdoor dining. The term is often specifically associated with rectangular tables having an A-frame structure. Such tables may be referr ...
next to his enclosure.
They brought toys, candy hearts,
chocolate milk
Chocolate milk is a type of flavoured milk made by mixing cocoa solids with milk (either dairy or plant-based). It is a food pairing in which the milk's mouthfeel masks the dietary fibres of the cocoa solids.
Types
The liquid carbohydrate ...
, 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
This is a list of firearm cartridges which have bullets in the to caliber range.
*''Length'' refers to the cartridge case
Case or CASE may refer to:
Containers
* Case (goods)
A case of some merchandise
Merchandising is any practic ...
revolver
A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
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
A paramedic is a registered healthcare professional who works autonomously across a range of health and care settings and may specialise in clinical practice, as well as in education, leadership, and research.
Not all ambulance personnel are p ...
who arrived said, "It looked like a
grizzly bear
The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America.
In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...
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
A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...
.
Between 2005 and 2009, St. James Davis underwent over 60
surgeries
Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...
.
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 common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...
in
Pomona, California
Pomona is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 151,713. The main campus of California State Polyte ...
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
This is a list of non-human apes of encyclopedic interest. It includes individual chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, bonobos, and gibbons that are in some way famous or notable.
Actors
* Bam Bam, an orangutan, played Precious (Passions), Preciou ...
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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