Incredibly chilling 911 call as woman begs for cops to arrive after pet chimp brutally attacks friend
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: AP Photo/The Stamford Advocate, Kathleen O’Rourke/CBS News
Warning: This article contains content that some readers may find disturbing
People have been left horrified after hearing a 911 call from a frantic chimpanzee owner as it brutally attacked her friend.
In 2009, Sandra Herold's friend Charla Nash was visiting her home in Connecticut when tragedy struck.
Sandra owned a 200lb chimpanzee named Travis and, while Charla had frequented the Herold household on several occasions with no issue, on February 16 2009, Travis brutally attacked her out of nowhere.
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Travis is thought to have stolen his owner's car keys and went out to the yard and, in a bid to lure him back to the house, Charla held out a toy to try and entice him.
He recognized the doll, but is thought to have been confused by Charla after she recently changed her hair.
The large chimp proceeded to attack Charla, sparking a horrified Sandra to call 911.
In the chilling phone call, she can be heard telling the dispatcher on the other end of the phone: "Send the police... the chimp killed my friend, he's killing my friend... he ripped her apart, hurry up!... he's eating her!"
Meanwhile, Travis' screeches could be heard in the background as he continued his rampage.
The rest of the harrowing call consisted of Sandra crying and pleading for the police to hurry and shoot Travis when they got there.
When police arrived, officer Frank Chiafari opened fire and shot Travis multiple times, after which the chimpanzee returned to his cage, where he later died.
While Sandra said Travis had killed Charla, this fortunately wasn't the case.
But she was left in critical condition with life-changing injuries, and suffered with with broken bones in her face, with Travis having torn apart her eyelids, nose, jaw, lips and most of her scalp.
Travis also left her blind, and had fully removed one of her hands from her body.
She required hours of surgery after the attack, and after her jaw was reattached she later flew to Ohio for an experimental facial transplant.
The four minute-long 911 call Sandra made was shared on YouTube following the incident, and people were quick to share their thoughts.
"Hearing Travis's screaming just makes this 1000x more terrifying," one person commented.
"This terrifies me," echoed a second person. "'He's eating her, he's eating her.' I always get this chilled feeling when I hear this, and I feel bad for that woman."
Someone else wrote: "This is one of the most horrifying and depressing things I ever heard."
Both Travis' former owners have since passed away. Sandra died in 2010, with her husband having died from cancer six years prior.
Sandra also didn't face criminal prosecution for the attack after it was ruled she was not aware of the risk her pet posed.