Toilet-trained chimp missing after escaping from his cage

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Toilet-trained chimp missing after escaping from his cage

6 July, 2008
WASHINGTON: A 42-year-old chimpanzee, who eats with a knife and fork but also bites humans, is at large in a southern California forest after escaping from his cage.
The owners of the chimp, called Moe, hope tracker dogs may be able to follow the scent from his blankets.
The chimp was rescued from poachers in the Sixties by St James and LaDonna Davis. Moe was removed from the Davises after a series of biting incidents and sent to Jungle Exotics, which houses wild animals used in the film and television industry.
Moe escaped from his cage 12 days ago and is now believed to be hiding in the San Bernardino National Forest, which is east of Los Angeles. The Davises have begged the public not to approach the chimpanzee because he might become fearful and aggressive.
In two incidents in 1998, Moe mauled a police officer’s hand and bit off a woman’s fingertip when she put her hand in his cage.
In 2005, Davis was himself horribly injured while taking a birthday cake to Moe at another animal facility. Two other chimps who had escaped their cages nearly killed him when they chewed off his nose, testicles and foot and bit off chunks of his buttocks and legs. The sanctuary owner eventually shot the animals dead.
Davis rescued Moe from Tanzania in 1967.
The chimp was toilet-trained, taught to eat with a knife and fork, and even slept in their bed.
The couple broke down in tears at a press conference in Los Angeles. “What am I going to do?” said Ms Davis. “He meant the world to us,” said her husband. “He was the best man at my wedding.”  — The Independent

 http://tinyurl.com/6bgmgr

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Experts to join hunt for missing chimp Moe

1:50 PM, August 11, 2008
The anguished owners of a missing 42-year-old chimpanzee have called in exotic-animal trackers to help find it, the Associated Press reports.

Family friend Michael McCasland told the agency that the two experts are expected to arrive by Friday to give advice on how to locate Moe the chimp, who escaped June 27 from an animal refuge in Devore where he lived.

McCasland says Moe is still thought to be in the nearby San Bernardino National Forest, 50 miles east of Los Angeles, although searches by helicopters and dogs have yielded no leads.

Moe's owners, St. James and La Donna Davis of West Covina, raised Moe since he was a baby, toilet-training him and teaching him to eat with a knife and fork.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2008/08/experts-to-aid.html