Chimpanzees Escape Sanctuary & Chimp Attack Leaves Humans Injured. Animal behaviorist and author, Diana L. Guerrero comments.

On March 3, 2005 the Animal Haven Ranch in Caliente, California was the scene of a chimpanzee escape of not one, but four chimps. The apes escaped and attacked two people. St. James and La Donna Davis were visiting their former pet chimpanzee, Moe when the other apes escaped.

Kern County Sheriff department deputies responded to the call while wardens from the Department of Fish and Game were also dispatched to the Animal Haven Ranch late Thursday morning.

The animal sanctuary has housed displaced animals since 1985. Ralph and Virginia Brauer hold permits to house the unusual tenants. Six of the animal residents housed at the facility are chimpanzees.

Animal behavior consultant, Diana L. Guerrero said, "Chimpanzees can be extremely dangerous. Captive wild animals may seem amiable to humans and other creatures, but they are not the anthropomorphized creatures humans imagine them to be."

Guerrero has worked with all the great apes in private animal acting facilities, sanctuaries and zoological settings. In addition to being contributing editor to "Resources in Crisis Management for Zoos and Other Animal Care Facilities," she writes columns on animal behavior and training, including one that appears in the Journal of the American Association of Zoo Keepers.

Throughout her thirty-year career she has personally witnessed many wild animal incidents and said, "Animal attacks are a occupational hazard for those who work with wild or domestic creatures."

In her experience she said that most captive animal incidents can be traced to human error, poor facility conditions, and public invasions of animal exhibits.

She said, "Chimpanzees are incredibly strong and very reactive. When chimps get agitated they continue to escalate and lash out at both animate and inanimate objects."

Preliminary reports are that St. James was mauled by a male chimpanzee and received serious injuries while La Donna was injured when she tried to intervene. Both were transported to Kern Medical Center, and then to Loma Linda hospital, for further treatment. Two of the chimpanzees were shot and killed while the remaining chimps were captured near dusk.

Authorities have begun an investigation into how the animals escaped their steel cages.