Chimpanzees at an animal sanctuary in South Africa have left an American researcher in critical condition, after bitting him severely and dragging him nearly half a mile (0.8km).
| Human .. it's what's for dinner... |
The man was giving a lecture at the Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden on Thursday when two chimpanzees grabbed his feet and pulled him into their enclosure, said emergency worker Jeffrey Wicks.
| "We'll grab his feet, you guys bite him!" |
He was in intensive care on Friday after undergoing surgery at the Mediclinic hospital in Nelspruit, 180 miles (290km) from Johannesburg, hospital officials said.
The man has "multiple and severe bite wounds", Wicks said.
Edwin Jay, chairman of the Jane Goodall Institute South Africa, said the two chimpanzees involved were part of a group that had been rescued from Angola and brought to South Africa more than a decade ago.
He said sanctuary officials were investigating the attack.
"So Pieter, what happened?"
"Looks like the chimps bit 'im, sir."
"Yes, that happens with chimps, eh?" |
The man lost part of an ear and parts of his fingers in the attack, according to the South African newspaper Beeld.
| Wonder if the chimps had a chianti to go with that... |
It said reported that the sanctuary's director fired into the air to scare the chimps away, then chased them away.
| Wait til next time, the chimps will have a plan for that... |
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