At the risk of continuing the Animals That Attack segment from the last newsletter, I’m going to give you the shortened version of the most memorable news story of late. Ready? Here goes!
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Mauled man tried to ‘reason’ with chimps during attack, wife says
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO – A man who was severely mauled by two chimpanzees at an animal sanctuary last week was quickly overwhelmed when the apes attacked, his wife said Monday.
“One was at his head, one was at his foot. But all that time … he was trying to reason with them,” a sobbing LaDonna Davis told “Good Morning America.”
Davis, 64, and her husband, St. James Davis, were visiting Animal Haven Ranch near Bakersfield on Thursday when two male chimps escaped their enclosure and attacked the couple. The Davises were visiting the sanctuary to celebrate the birthday of Moe, a 39 year old chimpanzee who was taken from their home in West Covina, a Los Angeles suburb, after biting off part of a woman’s finger in 1999.
St. James Davis, 62, lost all the fingers from both hands, an eye, part of his nose, cheek, lips and part of his buttocks in the ferocious attack, his wife said over the weekend on NBC’s “Today Show.” She also said one of his feet was mutilated.
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Folks, this is a true story, but upon first reading, I could have sworn it was something out of The Onion. I mean, really! He’s being attacked by monkeys? And trying to “reason” with them? Hey, call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure that an attacking monkey will not respond to logic. What possible words could convince a primate to stop acting out a scene from, Fight Club? “You know, it really hurts my feelings when you gnaw off my lower extremities. So, Curious George, let’s all just take a deep breath and count to 10. You stop sinking your teeth into my flesh, I’ll forget this happened and we’ll all enjoy some birthday cake!” Please!
My first thought was that this guy sorta got what was coming to him. I mean he shows up to a “convicted felon” of a monkey with a cake, singing “Happy Birthday”. Maybe, just maybe, that isn’t the smartest thing to do. But, if you read carefully, you see that it was not Moe, but actually two other chimps that attacked this time.
How many of us immediately made my same deduction: this guy played with fire and got burned. Isn’t that lumping every chimp into the pre-determined “Dangerous and Unpredictable” category? Are they? I’ll let a primate expert be the judge!
On an almost daily basis, I am approached by dog lovers who comment on Carson, my Seeing Eye dog. Often, these same people regale me with stories of their pet pooches at home. Over the past few years, I’ve been surprised at the number of folks who own Rottweilers. In the early days, I used to ask them, “Why would you want a dog that is famous for killing children?” Then, there would come a lengthy description of just how sweet, docile and loving their Rott is. After hearing this a few thousand times, I’ve changed my tune on these big fellows. So, has the public been led to falsely believe that Rotts are aggressive? Rott owners are always telling me emphatically, “Yes!”
What does all this mean? Well, that we’re all prone to categorization; and we should work hard NOT to be. I might be going out on a limb to relate stereotyping humans to animal behavior, but logically this makes sense. We are doing both ourselves and other factions of society a disservice by not evaluating each person as an individual. Not every CEO is a crook like we’ve been led to believe by the recent corporate scandals. Not every young, African American male is pillaging his community like the producers of Cops display every week. Not every teenager is a pot-smoking delinquent with an ear-splitting car stereo. Not every pop star that owns his own amusement park and gets a new nose every week is a freak (Okay, okay, so this one is the exception to the rule.)
Treating everyone as an individual just seems to make the most sense, doesn’t it? All of us belong to some sub-group that has been boxed in by stereotypes; sex, religion, race, political affiliation, wealth, whatever.
The best way to break those broad categorizations is to get the whole story, analyze the data and use facts to make our determination. Is the info true? Or are we falling victim to another wide-sweeping generalization? Determining what we truly believe can be more difficult than fighting off some disgruntled chimps, but it’s the only way we can truly learn and grow.
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The above listed story from the Associated Press was slightly re-arranged due to space limitations. The only part that was excluded was a description of injuries to the victim’s (Ahem!) “unmentionable” area. Everything in this article was factual, according to the AP.
Marcus Engel is a professional speaker/author who inspires audiences to achieve success by making intelligent choices. Blinded by a drunk driver at age 18, Marcus battled through two years of recovery and 300 hours of reconstructive facial surgery to reach his goal of returning to college. After graduating from Missouri State University in 2000, Marcus began sharing his story professionally to audiences nationwide. In 2002, Marcus founded his own publishing company with the release of his autobiography, “After This…An Inspirational Journey For All the Wrong Reasons.” His messages of empowerment and motivation have been witnessed by hundreds of thousands through his keynotes, his autobiography and his monthly newsletters. Marcus Engel is a speaker, a message, a story you will never forget! Visit http://www.MarcusEngel.com for more information!
