Tragic end of trilby-wearing chimp who became a ‘ticking time bomb’ before mauling woman
A chimpanzee called Buck had been part of owner Tamara Brogoitti’s family for 17 years before he suddenly attacked her daughter and was a “ticking time bomb” said animal rights groups
A chimp who had become part of a family but one day attacked a daughter was a “ticking time bomb”, it is claimed.
It is not unusual to hear of wild animals around the world who are kept domestically and then suddenly turn on their owners. Even if they may appear unaggressive they will always be unpredictable.
In one case, Charla Nash, from Connecticut, had her eyelids, nose, jaw, lips and scalp ripped off by her friend’s pet chimpanzee and in another attack, former Nascar driver St James Davis had his face and genitals torn off.
While a chimpanzee called Buck was shot by police, having been a family pet for 17 years, after he attacked the owner’s daughter in 2021. Owner Tamara Brogoitti kept Buck on her ranch in Pendleton, Oregon, and he had become such a part of the family that he’d been snapped wearing a trilby.
But he one day suddenly attacked her 50-year-old daughter, biting her arms, legs and torso. Tamara and her daughter had to flee to a basement bedroom and take shelter. They called 911 and waited for cops to arrive. In the recording of the desperate emergency call, Tamara can be heard saying: “It has attacked my 50-year-old daughter.
“She needs an ambulance. The ambulance cannot get to her. I’ve locked myself in the basement with her. I can’t get out to get my own gun. She’s bleeding profusely. I’ve never seen anything like this.” The operator taking the call asked if Tamara could put pressure on her daughter’s wounds to stem the blood flow, but the desperate mum replied: “I’m trying to guard her from a 200-pound ape, so I can’t really put pressure on it, ma’am.”
When sheriff deputies arrived, they found Buck roaming near a fence, and they were unable to get to the two women safely. Tamara gave her blessing for Buck to be “put down”, and he was killed with a single shot to the head. Buck had been part of the Buck Brogoitti Animal Rescue programme, which mainly looked after previously abused and neglected horses, reported the Star.
Although it became illegal in Oregon in 2010 to keep chimpanzees as pets, the law was not retrospective, so Buck could stay with the Brogoittis. But animal rights groups said the 2021 attack had been an incident waiting to happen, and it was probably a direct result of the wild animal being treated as though he was a pet.
One of the groups, PETA, said it had previously specifically raised Buck’s case. The group’s Brittany Peet reportedly said: “Peta warned state authorities that Tamara Brogoitti had created a ticking time bomb by engaging in direct contact with a dangerous ape, and now he is dead and a woman has been mauled because of Brogoitti’s refusal to follow experts’ advice and transfer Buck to an accredited sanctuary. Since long before the chimpanzee Travis ripped a woman’s face off in 2009, it has been clear that attacks are inevitable so long as people continue to treat chimpanzees like Chihuahuas.”
