Travis was also a movie star. As an animal actor, Travis had spent much of his life appearing in several TV commercials for both Coca-Cola and Old Navy. He had also been invited to appear on The Man Show, The Maury Povich Show, and had been involved in a TV pilot featuring Sheryl Crow and Michael Moore. In short, he was a famous, well-behaved chimpanzee. But as Travis got older, things started to unravel quickly…
In 1996, Travis, who had always been an interesting but harmless feature in the neighborhood, attacked one of his neighbors. The woman had been walking when Herold and Travis pulled up to her in their car, she greeted Travis as she always had. The chimpanzee responded rather uncharacteristically by biting her hand and attempting to pull her into the vehicle with them. The woman complained to the police, but no charges were ever filed. It was the first sign that something was wrong.
The next incident didn’t occur until October 2003. Travis had been out shopping with Herold all day. On their way back to the house, someone threw something at the car window where Travis was sitting. The object hit Travis in the head and the chimp took it upon himself to exit the car at a busy intersection and chase after his attacker. He didn’t catch him but Travis ended up being on the loose for several hours after that. The police were called in…
When police arrived, they lured the chimpanzee into the car several times. But Travis was no idiot, every time he got into the car he’d find his way out the other side door so that he could “play” with the officers by chasing them around the car. The incident prompted Connecticut to reevaluate the laws regarding citizens keeping primates weighing more than 50 lbs.
The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection didn’t enforce the law, however, not in Travis’ case anyway. They Herold’s had had him for so long. And besides, Travis was a good chimp, he’d never hurt anyone. That is, until February 16, 2009. Sandra Herold’s 55-year-old friend Charla Nash, had come over for tea with Sandra and Travis. She’d been over before and had even worked for the Herold’s at their towing company. She Travis knew her very well…
