Dr. Jane Goodall: 'Chimpanzees don't make good pets' Read the scary reasons why

Travis, the pet chimpanzee who mauled a woman in
Connecticut on Monday. (MSNBC)

As the world waits and prays for Charla Nash, the victim of a brutal chimpanzee attack on Monday, questions arise whether the keeping of exotic and wild animals by private citizens should be banned altogether. 

Dr. Jane Goodall, the world's most famous expert on chimpanzees would be inclined to think it's a good idea, especially in the case of chimps. 

The highly regarded primatologist, who has been studying non-human primates since her groundbreaking research of chimpanzees in Africa in the 1960s, states plainly on her website that "Chimpanzees Don't Make Good Pets."

She acknowledges that infant chimpanzees are "irresistibly cute," but also states that "chimpanzees grow up fast, and their unique intelligence makes it difficult to keep them stimulated and satisfied in a human environment."

Want to hear some of Dr. Goodall's scary facts about pet chimpanzees?

• By age five they are stronger than most human adults.

• They become destructive and resentful of discipline.

• They can, and will, bite.

• Chimpanzee owners have lost fingers and suffered severe facial damage.

• Nonhuman primates are used frequently in medical research because they are susceptible to many of the same diseases as humans such as herpes, viral hepatitis, and measles. These diseases can be transferred easily from them to us and vice versa.

• As adults, chimpanzees have at least five times the strength of humans

• Aggression is a natural aspect of chimpanzee behavior and it is not uncommon for chimps to bite each other in the wild. Even the best cared for chimpanzee innately misses the companionship of other chimpanzees and may act aggressively towards owners.

• However, much a misguided chimp owner continues to love his or her "child," [but] the chimpanzee will be too dangerous to keep as part of the family.

• Captive primates live 50-60 years.

Connecticut, where the attack occurred, passed a law in 2004 allowing its private citizens to keep chimpanzees as pets as long as they weigh no more than 50 pounds at maturity and the pet owner gets a permit from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

However, Travis, the 15 year-old pet chimp owned by Ms. Herold, weighed 200 pounds. An investigation reveals that Ms. Herold was allowed to keep the massive chimpanzee in her home, at the discretion of the DEP, because she had owned and raised him since he was three days old. He could brush his teeth and dress himself, drive a car, and use the computer.

“This animal was probably illegally kept as far as that statute is concerned,” State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal told an NBC News affiliate in Connecticut.  

Blumenthal is calling for his state to ban the keeping of any wild or exotic animals by private citizens. Currently, Connecticut law bans only animals such as tigers, bears and wolves, with all other exotic animals being allowed at the discretion of the DEP. "Certain species, no matter how delightful or domesticated they seem, belong in their natural habitats or preserves, not suburbia,” Blumenthal is quoted as saying.

Indeed, those wanting to raise a wild animal as a pet should peruse Dr. Goodall's website.

Chimpanzees are meant to live in the wild, not in our homes. Those that have been taken from the forest and their mothers belong in a sanctuary or a high quality zoo.

Like human children, ape children learn in a social context, by watching and imitating adults. Chimps that grow up apart from a normal group fail to learn the nuances of chimp etiquette, and are likely to behave abnormally.

As adults, chimpanzees have at least five times the strength of humans – too much for any pet owner to manage!

Zoos usually refuse to accept pets because they tend not to fit into established groups. Historically, many pet chimps ended up in medical research laboratories. Today they are likely to end up in a roadside zoo.

--Dr. Jane Goodall, in a piece entitled, "Want to Raise a Chimp? Think Again."

Federal lawmakers and the Humane Society of the United States have also stepped up efforts since the horrible attack on Ms. Nash to pass the Captive Primate Safety Act, which would make it illegal to engage in interstate commerce with a pet primate, i.e., buy or transport a pet primate across state lines.  

Ms. Herold, a 70 year-old widow whose only child died several years ago in a car accident, considered Travis her child. "I couldn't be more his mother if I had given birth to him," Ms. Herold told Jeff Rossen of the Today Show.