It is difficult to feel sorry for the Connecticut woman whose pet chimpanzee attacked her friend earlier this week, putting her in the hospital in critical condition.

Then again, it’s hard not to.

The bond between human and animal is deep, mysterious and utterly unfathomable to those with little or no affinity for non-human creatures.

The chimp’s owner, Sandra Herold, raised Travis the chimp from the time he was an infant. She compared him to her child, even going so far as to share a bed with him.

Odd? Certainly. A little creepy? Perhaps. But as a person who has awakened from more than one nap to find a cat or two stretched out across my pillow or curled up in the crook of my legs, I understand the bond such behavior created.

Cats and dogs have, of course, been domesticated (dogs more so than cats, to be sure), while a chimp, no matter how long he has lived as a surrogate, albeit hirsute human, still is, at heart, a wild animal.

Nonetheless, finding herself having to stab Travis to try to get him to stop biting 55-year-old Charla Nash, must have cut Herold to her soul. She likely felt each slash of the knife as if she was plunging the weapon into her own flesh.

That said, she had no business trying to raise a wild animal as a pet. The world is full of dogs and cats that need good homes and people to love them.

Chimpanzees are fun to watch in zoos, on television or in the movies, but in these instances their behavior is being directed by people trained and experienced in the handling of wild animals.

Even dogs and cats have been known to suddenly attack humans, although this behavior generally follows a pattern of abuse or neglect by the animal’s owner.

No matter how well Travis was treated, no matter how much he was “humanized,” deep in his heart dwelt the instincts that spell the difference between life and death in the wild.

Now it appears he attacked Nash in what he thought was an effort to protect either himself or Herold. Nash was driving a different car than usual, wearing a different hairstyle and approached the chimp holding a stuffed toy in front of her face, a toy intended as a gift for the chimp. The chimp attacked out of fear. That, at least, is Herold’s theory.

Similarly, magician Roy Horn of the famed duo Siegfried and Roy speculated Montecore, a 7-year-old male tiger, bit him on the neck, causing a stroke and partial paralysis, not to injure him but to drag him to safety after Horn fell on-stage during a performance in October 2003.

Perhaps. But in both cases the animals might simply have had enough.

Another poignant example of the inexorable bond between humans and animals came to light earlier this week when actor Mickey Rourke lost his beloved Chihuahua, Loki.

The 18-year-old Loki reportedly died in Rourke’s arms.

Rourke, a veteran actor who fell off the Hollywood radar because of his erratic, self-destructive behavior, has returned to prominence due to his performance in the film “The Wrestler,” which has earned him a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.

After winning the Golden Globe, he thanked his dogs, both past and present, saying, “Sometimes, when a man is alone, that’s all you got is your dog, and they’ve meant the world to me.”

Animals will not lie to you, won’t steal from you (unless you leave your dinner plate unguarded), won’t cheat on you, won’t gossip about you, won’t judge you, won’t nag you (unless they want to play or go for a walk) and won’t ever say, “I told you so.”

A pet can fill many lonely hours and can make the worst day better. Pets are great listeners, although they aren’t much on giving advice — which, come to think of it, is to their credit.

Losing a pet is painful, whether to natural causes or extraordinary ones, such as Travis’ attack on Charla Nash that led police to shoot and kill him.

It is a loss unfathomable to those who don’t share a love of animals. To the non-animal lover, replacing a beloved pet is like replacing a microwave oven that has given up the ghost after years of baking potatoes or warming up pizza.

It is easy to feel sorry for Mickey Rourke, who lost a faithful companion when Loki’s small body finally yielded to the ravages of time.

It is likewise difficult to not feel sorry for Sandra Herold, who will carry Travis’ loss to her grave, just as Charla Nash will carry the scars of the chimp’s vicious attack to hers.



Mullin is senior writer of the News & Eagle.