Irate chimp shot at alleged puppy-mill

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009:
ST. LOUIS–Responding to a “loose chimpanzee” call from
Winston, Missouri, 60 miles north of Kansas City, Daviess County
sheriff’s deputy Larry Adams on March 30, 2009 initially tried to
help Brent Hudson, 49, Cherace Hudson, 41, and Mary Overton, 52,
to get the chimp back into secure premises.
When the chimp opened the door of Adams’ patrol car, grabbed
his leg, and tried to hit him, Adams fatally shot the chimp, a
nine-year-old male named Timmy.
Adams reported seeing three other chimps and 100-200 dogs at
the scene, but when the Missouri Department of Agriculture and
Humane Society of Missouri arrived two days later with a
search-and-seizure warrant, they found only 15 dogs and three cats.

Posting a reward of $3,000 for information leading to
discovering the missing animals, however, soon paid off.
“With help from tipsters, investigators tracked the dogs to
breeders in Cameron, 10 miles south of Winston, and in Grain Valley,
an eastern suburb of Kansas City,” reported Tim O’Neil of the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch. The Humane Society of Missouri recovered 102
dogs, who were taken to the society headquarters in St. Louis.
“The USDA found the other three primates at a pet shop in
Pleasant Hill, another Kansas City suburb,” Daviess County chief
deputy Todd Watson told O’Neil.
The Hudsons and Overton face 17 counts of animal neglect,
breeding without a license, keeping unregistered dangerous animals,
and improperly disposing of dead animals, among other alleged
offenses.
Missouri governor Jay Nixon and agriculture director Jon
Hagler visited the impounded animals at the Humane Society of
Missouri headquarters on April 8.
During the first quarter of 2009 the Missouri Department of
Agriculture transferred to humane societes more than 1,300 dogs who
were impounded from alleged unfit breeders, Nixon and Hagler told
media. But under archaic regulations that treat dogs as livestock,
“The state also arranges for dogs from shoddy breeders to be sold at
auction to other breeders,” reported Associated Press writer Cheryl
Wittenauer.
“Critics question the practice if poor facility conditions
have compromised the animals’ health. They also argue bad breeders
shouldn’t profit from the sale of their confiscated or surrendered
dogs,” said Wittenauer. Hagler promised to review the practice.
The Missouri chimp escape and shooting came about six weeks
after police in Stamford, Connecticut fatally shot a 14-year-old
male chimp named Travis, ending a rampage in which Travis critically
injured Charla Nash, 55, blinding her for life and biting off her
hands, nose, lips, and eyelids.
Nash had often worked with Travis before. On the evening she
was mauled she was trying to help Travis’ keeper, Sandra Herold 70,
to calm him.
Nash’s family has sued Herold for $50 million, and has moved
to have photos of Nash’s injuries sealed by the court.
The Nash attack helped the Captive Primate Safety Act to win
passage by the U.S. House of Representatives eight days later. U.S.
Senate action is pending.