St. James Davis was left permanently disfigured after the attack at an animal sanctuary

St. James Davis was enjoying a peaceful moment with his wife LaDonna and their pet chimpanzee Moe, whom they considered their son, at a picnic table laden with sweet treats.

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After enduring years of legal battles and isolation, the unconventional trio finally had a reason to be optimistic. However, their happiness was short-lived. Within minutes, St. James found himself fighting for his life after being brutally attacked by two rogue chimps at the animal sanctuary where Moe resided.

The powerful apes bit and ripped off parts of the helpless man’s face, fingers, buttocks and testicles. He lost an eye, his nose and some of his lips in the horrific attack.

The couple were enjoying a day out at the monkey sanctuary when tragedy struck (Image: Getty Images)

Now permanently disfigured, wheelchair-bound and requiring constant care, 80-year-old St. James has also been grappling with another heartache for the past 25 years, the disappearance of his ‘son’, Moe.

The strong bond between St. James and Moe was established in 1967, nearly four decades before the attack. When he married his childhood sweetheart in 1970, Moe served as St. James’s best man.

The monkey mate donned a tuxedo and held the flower girl’s hand as she walked down the aisle. He even indulged in some champagne and got a bit tipsy.

Moe was a constant companion of St. James (Image: Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

In 1971, a ‘monkey trial’ transformed Moe into an overnight sensation. St. James and LaDonna were taken to court for allegedly breaking a city ordinance by keeping a wild animal. But Moe, dressed in a shirt, trousers, and shoes, won over the public, the media, and the judge with his charm.

He shook hands, gave kisses, and even played with the bailiff, leading to the case being dismissed.

After biting a woman’s hand in the 1990s Moe was deemed “too dangerous to live with the couple” by West Covina officials who seized him to take him to an animal sanctuary.

March 3, 2005, was meant to be a day of joy and celebration – it was the 39th birthday of Moe the chimp, and his human parents had come prepared with an array of gifts and treats for a special picnic in his enclosure. Moe couldn’t hide his enthusiasm, showing his delight by clapping excitedly as his loved ones settled down for the festive feast. But the tranquil scene took a nightmarish turn in an instant.

The trio were a close-knit family unit

Out of nowhere, two other chimps named Buddy and Ollie, who’d managed a daring escape from their cage, stormed the scene.

LaDonna, recounting the earth-shattering moment to the Los Angeles Times, remembered: “I cut them each [Moe and St. James] a piece of cake and then was going to cut myself a piece.

“When I turned around, I saw one of the males out of the corner of my eye. We made eye contact, and he charged.”

As the attackers approached, St. James valiantly tried to shield his wife, who wrapped an arm around him for protection, but chaos erupted when one of the loose chimps lunged, slamming into her from behind, sending the couple crashing to the ground.

The monkey received regular visits after moving out (Image: Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

LaDonna revealed the horrific details: “As we were falling, the chimp came back around and bit my finger off. There was no time to run. There was no time to do anything.”

What followed was a savage beating as one of the enraged apes tore into his right eye socket and gruesomely gouged out his eye with a finger. The vicious animal then proceeded to rip his nose from his face, while the other beast savagely bit into his fingers.

The vicious animals cracked his skull, with one beast clamping its jaws over his mouth to rip off his lips and yank out teeth. Another chimp savagely chewed on his left foot, creating a horrific wound.

The chimps feasted on his buttocks and genitals, mutilating them beyond recognition. “It was pandemonium,” LaDonna recounted to the Los Angeles Times, “I was screaming to the top of my lungs for help.”

The attack left St. James scarred for life (Image: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Kern County fire captain Kurt Merrell, one of the first responders, expressed his shock to the Los Angeles Times: “I had no idea a chimpanzee was capable of doing that to a human.”St. James Davis’s brutal mauling left him hospital-bound for half a year, where he was at death’s door in a coma, enduring over 60 surgeries from 2005 to 2009. Speaking to Esquire in 2009, St. James lamented: “I can’t do anything on my own any more, except sit around like a potted plant.”

Animal behaviourists reckon the chimps’ fury might have been sparked by jealousy over Moe’s birthday cake or the fuss he was getting. They might have also been marking their turf, experts reckon. LaDonna reflected after the savage incident: “Chimps are like people. You have a good mainstream of people, and then you have people who are bad.”