The Connecticut woman severely injured by her friend's pet chimpanzee remains in critical condition. Charla Nash, 50, was transported to the Cleveland Clinic, which had performed a successful face transplant last December. However, it's unclear whether Nash is a good candidate for a transplant—a doctor at a different hospital told the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "Some of the traditional reconstructive techniques might not work well for this patient."
Medics who first responded to Nash, who had been trying to help friend Sondra Herold calm down her 200-pound pet chimp Travis, described her injuries to the AP. Paramedic Bill Ackley said, "It was amazing to us she had these type of injuries and they were survivable," and added, "I would liken it to a machine-type accident. She had some crushing injuries to her hands and some tearing injuries to her hands." Nash's eyes were injured and hair was ripped out; her nose "was still there. There was disfigurement. She did have injuries to her mouth that caused quite a bit of bleeding. It was very difficult to determine where everything was because of the blood."
Travis the chimp was killed by police, after Herold's attempts to stop him (she stabbed him and used a shovel to beat him) failed. According to the Stamford Advocate, "Stamford police say they are taking their time before deciding whether" Herold will face criminal charges. Herold was granted permission by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection to keep the chimp, which lived with the widower on her estate. While Nash's lawyer declined to comment about whether her family would file a lawsuit, Fordham University Law Professor Jim Cohen believed a lawsuit would be successful, "She was on notice that this chimpanzee was, over the course of time, getting crankier and crankier"—an old neighbor of Herold's says Travis bit her in 1996— "getting less controllable, and she didn't do anything about."
