Kriti Mehrotra
As an Eric Goode-directed documentary that delves deep into the relationship people have with their owned primates, HBO’s ‘Chimp Crazy’ can only be described as intriguing and baffling. That’s because it incorporates not just exclusive interviews with those involved in the exotic animal industry but also old tales of when such chimp-as-pets situations went terribly wrong. Amongst the latter is actually the case of Travis, who was lovingly raised by Sandra “Sandy” and Jerome “Jerry” Herold in their Stamford, Connecticut, home until he brutally mauled one of their friends.
Sandy and Jerry Treated Travis as their Child
It was on October 24, 1995, that Sandy and Jerry purchased Travis from a Missouri-based breeder for $50,000 at just three days old before naming him after the former favorite singer, Travis Tritt, and taking him home. There, they raised him as if he was their actual child by constantly having him in their company, caring for him even if they were at work, and having him join them even for the smallest shopping excursions in town. In other words, he was their constant companion in every way, shape, and form, all the while also becoming a sensation around town owing to his domestic ways.
Travis did have tantrums from time to time, but the one that stuck out most was in 2003 when the 8-year-old chimp escaped from Sandy and Jerry’s car to roam around a busy intersection for hours. They tried to capture him and lure him back in, but he just wasn’t complying – in the end, they had to bribe him with ice cream to get him back into the truck, but the damage was done. This incident led the Connecticut General Assembly to enact a law prohibiting the ownership of primates weighing more than 50 pounds (23 kg) as pets, with Sandy and Terry being the only exception since they’d had Travis for years, but they were warned that another such incident would lead to them losing him.
Sandy and Jerry Didn’t Expect Travis to Turn Violent
Despite the 2003 incident, Sandy and Jerry were sure Travis didn’t have any tendency to go violent, but things began changing after April 2004, when the latter sadly passed away following a short battle with cancer. That’s when he became a little isolated, with Sandy also treating him as a surrogate of sorts and pampering him to the best of her abilities since he was essentially the only family she had left. The duo thus slept in the same bed, cuddled, and hung around together, with the only difference being that she had stopped taking him outside much.
According to reports, Travis gradually became aggressive and agitated, which ultimately culminated with his February 16, 2009, mauling of Sandy’s friend Charla Nash outside of their home. Sandy stabbed him in an effort to stop his attack before the police showed up and shot him, yet she was heartbroken over it because for her, “to do something like that, put a knife in him, was like putting one in myself.” She did apparently tell her step-daughter that if the officials had investigated the matter further and asked her to strip, they would have found bruises all across her body, but she still couldn’t bring herself to see the 200-lb chimp painted in a negative light.
Sandy Herold Unfortunately Passed in 2010
Sandy was so heartbroken over losing Travis following the attack that she reportedly became a shell of herself before going as far as to hire a medium in the hopes of reconnecting with him. She felt as if something was missing from her life, so she had even co-purchased a chimp with Florida-based trainer Pam Rosaire and named him Chance, yet it still wasn’t enough to fulfill her. In the end, on May 24, 2010, 15 months after the attack, Sandy sadly died of a ruptured aortic aneurysm – the 72-year-old was in the bath when it suddenly happened.
Nevertheless, Sandy’s loved ones still believe she essentially died of a broken heart, with her lawyer even releasing a statement that read, in part, “Ms. Herold had suffered a series of heartbreaking losses over the last several years, beginning with the death of her first and only daughter who was killed in a car accident, then her husband, then her beloved chimp, Travis, as well as the tragic maiming of friend and employee Charla Nash. In the end, her heart, which had been broken so many times before, could take no more.”
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