Shouldn't the chimp owner be in jail right now?

[ecstatic]

Poll question: Shouldn't the chimp owner be in jail right now?

:shrug: I believe pit bull owners are sent to jail when their pets maul and kill. Why should this case be any different?

[Lost in CT]

1. No she (and her homeowners insurance) is liable but I don't see

any criminal negligence.

Should you be jailed if you child or boyfriend attacks someone in your house?

[tekisui]

2. Do you have to have licenses for children or boyfriends?

[Lost in CT]

9. We don't know if the relationship between the two of them was mother/child or

Or that of a companion and frankly it is none of our business.

They shared meals together and a bed with each other and were happy.

The woman is obviously devastated.

I don't think this is a criminal matter.

[tekisui]

16. I didn't say anything about their relationship.

Do you have to have a license for a boyfriend or child? No.

You do have to have one for a chimp. Because they are dangerous and a liability.

[jobycom]

15. For children, yeah.

social security numbers, school attendance records, updated shot records--not exactly what you meant by license, but the government takes its piece of your children, and here in Texas you can go to jail for their actions even if you had nothing to do with them. I have a friend who has paid thousands in fines because his grandkids who have lived with him since his daughter died skipped school.

[CTyankee]

3. She should be committed to the mental institution in Middletown.

Clearly she is in her own loca vida world right now and has been for some time...

[ecstatic]

5. apples and oranges

:shrug:

[stray cat]

4. The few I know who went to jail let the pit bull out and it attacked people in the community

Didn't this happen in the owners house?

[Phoonzang]

6. I'm not sure how someone can have a pet chimp anyway.

Where do you get chimps from? The pet store? Who the hell would want a damn chimp for a pet? They're brutal, violent creatures (much like their closest living relatives) and have the strength to tear a person limb from limb.

[jobycom]

20. There are advice web sites and boards for all of that.

They help you find monkeys or primates, inform you of the laws, etc.

[Freddie Stubbs]

7. Pit bull owners only go to jail if they show negligence by keeping an animal known to be dangerous

Did the chimp have a history of violence?

[Hugabear]

12. How much do you know about chimpanzees?

Chimpanzees are known to be extremely violent and brutal animals, even in the wild.

Keeping a chimp as a pet would be akin to keeping a lion, tiger, or bear. Sure, some people do keep those animals as pets, but they're usually professional animal handlers - and even then, sometimes there are horrific attacks.

[rolltideroll]

33. Wild animal attacks

and even then, sometimes there are horrific attacks.

Yet everyone is so shocked when it happens.

[jobycom]

8. We've become a screwed-up society who imprisons people because we can't justify

not jailing them, rather than the other way around. If her actions were so horrible, someone should have taken the chimp long ago. She wasn't secret about it. If society let her keep the chimp, then society is as responsible as her. Yeah, the Xanax was stupid, but I don't care. She didn't set out to harm anyone, only to help her pet.

Besides, she's lost a son, a beloved pet that seems to have been a surrogate son, and she's watched a close friend mauled horribly while she tried to kill the pet she thought of us a surrogate child. I doubt people can hurt her any worse by putting her in prison. I'd be more concerned about getting her counceling than prison garb.

When it gets down to the pavement, Michael Phelps broke a law publicly for his own petty enjoyment without any respect for the society that made the law and that allowed him to become a hero and an icon to the world, and no one wanted to put him in jail (including me), while this woman tried to help a beloved pet and suffered a horrible consequence. She belongs in jail much less than Phelps, unless there's something I haven't heard about malicious intent here.

Just my opinion. I'm sick of seeing people put in jail for accidents. Dog owners, parents who do stupid-but-not-intentionally-malicious things, etc. Sometimes--much more often than we do--society needs to accept that bad things happen and stuffing someone in our already ridiculously overused and useless prison system is just not going to make anything better.

[ecstatic]

11. I sort of agree that she may be a victim too in some way

but yes, we're a society that likes to see SOMEONE pay when things like this happen. It just seems odd that someone can be ripped apart and there are no consequences for anyone.

[jobycom]

There were plenty enough consequences for everyone without our inhuman prison system

needing to get involved. The chimp is dead, so he can't be punished worse. The friend is disfigured, if she lives, so she became a victim rather than an accessory (she was trying to help at first). The owner is devestated in every way a person can be. I can't figure out why putting someone in jail would make anything better. It wouldn't even be a deterent, since primate owners across the land are about as horrified as they can be over this.

Prisons aren't supposed to be places we put people just because we feel like somebody should pay. Most of us are just lucky in some way or another that nothing so bad has happened to us. Cell-phoning while driving, drinking while driving, speeding, momentary inattentiveness while driving, dog ownership... most of us are just one horrible moment away from winding up responsible for someone's injury or death, and it's just the roll of the dice that it happens to someone else rather than us.

[Lost in CT]

14. Plus 1 and hear hear.... great post.

[stillcool]

10. Has she been charged with a crime?

I think even pit bull owners go through that whole legal process thing.

[lpbk2713]

13. Silly me. I thought you were talking abount Cheney.

Who knew? :shrug:

[ecstatic]

21. LOL! Yes, he should be locked up too! nt

[LeftishBrit]

29. I thought the same thing!

[The Stranger]

17. She broke the law. She shouldn't have had a large non-human primate in her home. Incarcerate her.

Fucking idiot was giving it prescription medication, and when they took effect, she fucking stabbed it with a knife and call the police to gun it down. All because it was simply under the effect of drugs that fucking idiot gave to the Chimpanzee.

This is why there are laws preventing people from keeping large non-human primates. THIS IS WHY.

[jayfish]

18. She Didn't Break Any Law That I'm Aware Of.

Can you cite a law that applies here?

Jay

[The Stranger]

34. Connecticut law. Officials were apparently not enforcing it.

[jayfish]

41. What Law Are We Talking About?

Jay

[ecstatic]

22. I hope an autopsy is done on the chimp

To see what chemicals are running through his system. If they find Xanax, lock her up!

[LisaL]

25. Xanax is anti-anxiety meds.

It's not like she was giving the chimp illegal drugs.

[ecstatic]

26. She was.... it is illegal if the chimp's name wasn't on

the prescription.

[LisaL]

27. How do we know that it wasn't?

My cat was prescribed xanax.

[The Stranger]

35. Because news reports are that it was not prescribed to the Chimpanzee.

Stamford Police are investigating a number of possible violations.

[jobycom]

28. Would it be? My mother used to give pets penicilin all the time.

That's illegal?

[jayfish]

30. Really?

There's a statute that prohibits giving prescription medication to non-humans?

Jay

[The Stranger]

37. Misusing a controlled substance violates any myriad of statutes.

You could start with 21 USC Sec. 841, but I can't waste my time listing all of them.

[jayfish]

40. 21 USC Sec. 841 Does Not Apply.

Did you even read it? Please waste your precious time and post something that applies.

Jay

[DainBramaged]

19. Shouldn't the Chimp be in jail?

DU, where shit is more important than the political landscape.

[jobycom]

24. We all agree on that one. "Me Too" threads are dull.

"Check in here if Bush and Cheney should go to jail!"
"Yes"
"Yes"
"Yes"
"Hell Yes"
"Absolutely Hell Yes"
"Absolutely fucking Hell Yes!"
"Absolutely Fucking Fuckity Fuck Hell Yes!"
"Yes"
"Absolutely"
"Yes indeed!"
"Why isn't he in jail already?"
"Probably"
--"Who said Probably?"
-- "A Troll! Let's link his post in every other forum!"
---- "Let's tombstone him!"
------ "No, let's really kill him, for real!"
--"What's the matter, you don't believe murder and torture are crimes, FREEPER??!!!"
"Hell. Yes."
"Yes"

----

What's to discuss there?

[JTFrog]

23. I'm thinking this is probably the reason she changed her story about giving the chimp Xanax.

I saw the video in which she clearly states she mixed Xanax with water and gave it to the chimp five minutes before he got out. Now she is denying that she did so. I'm thinking that somewhere along the line an attorney might have warned her of some possible liability if she did.


edit = She actually said she mixed it with tea not water. Also added link to video of the reporter speaking to her in her house.

video here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/29254992#29254992

[guitar man]

31. yes, he should

but he keeps ignoring the subpoenas and no one has the stones to bring him in I guess :crazy:

[rolltideroll]

32. Hell yes she should be in jail.

Think,. If you walked down the street, waving a gun around with a hair trigger on it, it may or may not go off. You never know. However, when it does, and someone gets shot, we would charge you.Unless she is proven to be unfit to stand trial, she is as guilty as the hypothetical person.Animals do not posses logic, or a real sense of loyalty (dogs aside)and they will turn on you if random chance meets with the right stimuli.A poor woman's life is ruined.She was either callous enough or inept enough to allow this.While she may deserve our sympathy, she does not get a waiver for criminally negligent behavior.

[underseasurveyor]

36. Chimpanzees are wild animals

Period. Whether you have a permit or not, failure to maintain control of any wild animal in the event that it causes serious injury or death to a person is IMHO negligence at the very least and should be prosecuted as such. The owner should also automatically be on the hook for any and all damages to property and person(s)... and as in this case, massive compensation.

How do you apologize to someone for the loss of their face?

[blues90]

38. if she had it for 13 years and this was her friend

She never saw it coming and neither did her friend . I'm not saying she should have had the chimp but she tried to stab it to get him off her friend and now she must have so much guilt and regret I think she's been through enough. What good can come from putting her in jail , she is already in a hell she cannot escape from.

I know how I'd feel if this happened to me. It was not intent on her part. she will never live this down and I would not be surprised if she ended her life over this.

[LisaL]

39. Normally I would say yes, she should be charged, but because

of her age, what would be the point?
Her poor friend, if she makes it out alive, could sue her civilly.