more on the monkey business (senseless death of a showbizzaap)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/4677551/Pet-chimp-attacks-woman-and-police-officers.html I think that there is an important lesson here about Chimpanzees. Chimpanzees are not humans. It does not matter of they have been in a sitcom pilot or use the toilet, wear a monkey fedora, watch jeopardy, are genetically similiar to human, fill out the paperwork for your tow truck, get addicted to Xanax-based beverages, etc. They are still monkeys, driven by an entirely different set of biological and social perogatives and are stronger than the toughest UFC warrior even at the age of 80 in monkey years. Check this one out: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/nyregion/17chimp.html?_r=1&em The photo of this owner speaks to me. It seems to say, "Hey look at me! I'm a 70 year old woman with an unlicensed 200 pound intelligent and malevolent death-maker on a leash. Zookeeper? What do zookeepers know? They only have respect for wildlife from years of study and field work about the habits and habitats of the species they manage. Me? I let my monkey ride shotgun, we still get royalty checks from when he drank coke and burbed the national anthem on tv!" If there is a lesson learned here, it is this: don't go to Connecticut. Here's a Lyme Diseas angle on the story to bolster the "Connecticut is for sickos" idea: http://www.examiner.com/x-3035-Everyday-People-Examiner~y2009m2d16-Connecticut-police-shoot-famous-chimp I think this story can be summed up best by this Belgium newspaper headline which proclaims: "Agent schiet dolle showbizzaap dood na bloederige thriller" The photo of travis makes it clearer: chimpanzees have four fists and the desire to punch you with each of them. I especially like the stoic face of the nosy neighboor at the bottom of the article. As if to say, "I knew all along that something like this would happen. Now excuse me, I have to go to Williams Sonoma to buy more concentrated evil to install in that place in my heart where mercy might live had it not been snuffed out by my prep school." Here lies Travis, "misschien wel de slimste showbizzaap ter werel", his life, his owners life, and the life of an innocent third party destroyed. Macabre humor aside, I am most upset by the NYT article reporting that no charges are planned to be filled against the owner. If Travis' victim ends up dead because after his owner failed to control him, he called his friend, a 55 year old woman to be exposed to a deranged 200 pound chimapnzee, that's reckless endangerment and its a lesser form of homicide, but its still homicide. Also the crazed monkey, angered by being stabbed with a butcher knife by his owner battered a police officer. C'mon Connecticut DA, do your job!