TRAVIS the chimp was raised like a human child – he would play, wear nappies, dress in clothes, and even starred in adverts for Pepsi.

But exactly 13 years ago today, his owner Sandra Herold watched helplessly from her vehicle in the driveway of her Stamford home as he mercilessly mauled her long-time friend Charla Nash.

The 14-stone ape savaged Charla as Sandra screamed "he's eating her" down the phone to a 911 operator – begging cops to come quickly with guns.

Sandra's bone-chilling cries as she desperately begged the operator paint a disturbing picture of the gory scene she was witnessing as Travis snapped and randomly attacked Charla.

As Sandra sat within the safe haven of her car, she told the 911 operator her beloved pet had killed her friend.

But Charla didn't die, instead suffering unimaginable injuries at the hands' of Travis during a fit of uncontrolled rage.

The chimpanzee viciously broke nearly all of Charla bones in her face, removed one of her hands and very nearly all of the other.

He gouged her eyes, leaving her without sight for the rest of her life, and tore off her eyelids, nose, jaw, lips and most of her scalp.

Travis was shot and eventually died in the moments following his act of violence, but the lives of the two women who cared most for him would never be the same.

Most read in The Sun

Travis was adopted by Jerome and Sandra Herold when he was just thee days old after his mother was shot dead while trying to escape the Missouri Chimpanzee Sanctuary.

Sandra kept Travis as a domestic pet but raised him like he was her son, teaching him to eat at the dinner table and occasionally sharing a glass of wine.

Wherever Sandra would go, Travis would be close behind and the pair would be spotted together at shops and around the neighbourhood.

She would dress him in clothes and Travis became the house-trained chimp became TV star, appearing in commercials.

Travis was even taught how to drive and had been known to get behind the wheel of a car.

He was 14 years old when he began appearing to be agitated and showing signs of aggression.

On February 16, 2009, Sandra saw the signs and grew worried, so crushed up some Xanax to calm him down.

THE ATTACK

But Travis turned unpredictable, and escaped the house, prompting a concerned Sandra to call her friend Charla for help.

When the then-50-year-old arrived, he instantly went after her, throwing her up against the side of the car and launching an attack.

Sandra was horrified and tried to get between them to help her, but as she was watching the horrifying level of destruction Travis was causing, didn't want to make herself a target.

She said: “I grabbed the shovel and hit him with the shovel to stop it. It wasn't working, so I went and I had to get a knife — and I stabbed him. I had to.

"He looked at me like, ‘Mom, what did you do?’”

She claims Travis focused his attention back to Chandra but Sandra felt like she was next so ran to her car, locked herself inside and called the police.

Charla has no memory of what happened that day, only Sandra and her disturbing 911 call were able to offer any insight into the moments of Travis' attack.

THE 911 CALL

As Travis beat Charla, haunting audio was captured of the moment Sandra desperately phoned for help.

“He’s eating her, he’s eating her!” Sandra down the phone line, between shrieks of Travis.

An operator is heard asking: “I need you to calm down. Why do you need somebody there?”

Sharon screams: “He’s killing my friend!”

“Who’s killing your friend?," the puzzled operator asked.

Sandra screamed: “Chimp—my chimpanzee!”

“He ripped her apart! Hurry up! Hurry up! Please!”

Police officer Frank Chiafari, who had 25 years in the force and like many locals had met Travis a number of times, responded to Sandra's calls.

He arrived on the scene with a colleague when the chimpanzee began attacking his vehicle and tried to get into his car.

The first door was locked, but Travis moved around the side and found one that opened.

Chiafari struggled to get his grip on the gun, but was soon able to focus his hands and lift his weapon before firing four shots.

After the incident, he told the New York Times: “Travis gave me a split second to react.

“He shows his teeth, a snarl, and I see blood. I see his fangs. I just start to shoot. When I [first] saw him, he was small and cute and friendly — he’d wave at you.

“Who would have ever thought when we were playing together, we’d have this incident 15 years later?”

'NEVER BEEN A QUITTER'

Travis had used his huge primate teeth to tear off Charla’s hands, attacking her her lips, eyelids, eyes, and nose.

Bones from Charla’s face were shattered and doctors later had to reattach her jaw. She was left permanently blind from the attack.

Two years later, Charla underwent the world's first double hand and face transplant.

Charla spoke to Oprah after the attack, revealing her face for the first time since the attack which had been carefully hid away from prying eyes.

She said: "I've never been a quitter. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot I can do.

“I’ve lost so much independence. I could change my own truck tyre, and now I can’t even feed myself.

"It's very hard to live. Not even live – half-live.

“Sometimes you want to cry, you want out, you want some kind of home. I don't know what my future is, that's the scary part."

Charla has spent years undergoing transformations and facial surgeries so she can one day smile again.

In 2016 she said the transplant operations gave her a chance to do things she once took for granted.

One year after the gruesome attack, Sharon Herold died of an aneurysm.

Source: Read Full Article