Exotic animals are very dangerous — that’s the message that Charla Nash wants to share after being brutally mauled by a 200-pound chimpanzee. The brave woman appeared on Oprah yesterday, revealing what’s left of her face and body. Take a look at the video, but be warned that it’s disturbing and graphic:
According to CBS2 Chicago, Nash says that even though she is blind and has to eat through a straw, she isn’t angry. “I don’t even think about it,” she said. ”And there’s no time for that anyways because I need to heal, you know, not look backwards.”
Oprah removed Nash’s hat and veil to reveal her face, which was swollen and damaged beyond recognition. She has a large scar near the bottom of her face and a large piece of skin where her nose had been. Parts of her limbs are also gone.
Nash was attacked in February, when the animal’s owner, Sandra Herold, asked Nash, her friend and employee, to help lure the animal back into her house in Stamford, Connecticut. After the attack, police shot and killed the animal, but Nash has been hospitalized since, however, remaining in stable condition.
Nash’s family has filed a $50 million lawsuit against Herold, saying she was negligent and reckless for lacking the ability to control “a wild animal with violent propensities.” They are also in the process of trying to sue the state of Connecticut for $150 million.
With this in mind, and after a Pennsylvania woman was killed by a bear last month, I really wonder why we don’t have stricter laws protecting us from dangerous animals.
Comments
Hannah
November 12th, 2009 - 12:42:18 PM
stricter laws? the monkey got the death sentence, without trial, how much stricter can you get? i mean, i'm being facetious here, but what exactly do you recommend? i suppose you could do a ban on having wild animals as pets, which would have prevented this chimpanzee attack, but no law is going to stop a bear from mauling someone in the woods. unless the law is to kill all bears, which would be ridiculously stupid.
Sofia
November 13th, 2009 - 5:08:51 AM
Its horrifying to say the least.. I completely agree with Hannah about banning wild animals as pets.. Let them be where they want to be.. not where you want them to be.. Poor Chimpanzee!! http://www.diigo.com/083db
AliceMarie
November 16th, 2009 - 11:18:28 PM
Horrible, horrible, unbelievably horrible. These types of animals can never be truly labelled "domesticated" & they belong in the wild or an enviornment in which they are supervised by specialists, i.e. Zoos/Habitats etc. I give Oprah credit for televising the aftermath of this woman's encounter with her friend's "wild animal". Every state in USA should outlaw citizens' ownership of exotic/wild animals!!!