The #1 source for news about monkeys and apes

[Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>]

"The youth shot Suzie three times... [and] threatened to kill the other
animals, which had gathered near Suzie's body."

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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

April 26, 2001, Thursday, FIVE STAR LIFT EDITION

SECTION: JEFFERSON COUNTY POST, Pg. 1

HEADLINE: FAMILY GRIEVES OVER SHOOTING DEATH OF CHIMP;
KILLING WAS USELESS SINCE ANIMAL WAS SEDATED, OWNER SAYS

BYLINE: Chris Carroll; Of The Post-Dispatch

The owners of a chimpanzee that escaped and was shot to death near Festus
last week say that they remain in mourning for an animal that had become
more than just a pet in the nearly 20 years it lived with them.

It was like watching a loved one die, says Connie Casey. She was trying to
capture the 28-year-old chimp, Suzie, when a youth who lives nearby shot
the ape several times with a shotgun.

Suzie already had been shot with a tranquilizer dart and was immobilized
when the shooting occurred, various witnesses say.

"It was like a member of the family got killed," she said. "All these guys
are like members of our family."
 
It is legal to shoot animals in self-defense, authorities say.

However, if the youth, who turns 18 today, is believed to have shot the
chimp for no reason, he could be charged with a felony, a prosecutor said.

No charges had been filed by Tuesday's deadline for the Jefferson County
Post, and authorities had not released the shooter's name.

Connie Casey and her husband, Mike, own Chimparty, a company that supplies
young chimps for parties, commercials and other activities. They also run
the Missouri Primate Foundation, a refuge for rescued chimps or retired zoo
animals.

The Caseys currently have several baby chimpanzees living in their house.
The young animals scamper around wearing disposable diapers, swing in baby
swings and sleep in cribs. A huge cage in their living room allows other
animals access to the family quarters. It's not so strange, Casey says.
Chimps and other apes are close relatives to humans.

"The DNA makeup of a chimpanzee is 99 percent the same as us," she said.
"They have the same bones and organs, and blood from them can actually be
transfused to us, which, unfortunately for them, is why they're so often
used for research."

Coco, one of two chimpanzees that escaped along with Suzie but was not
hurt, was raised with the Casey's children "like a brother," Mike Casey
said.

"If you raise them like kids, they grow up around people, and they're
extremely tame," Connie Casey said.

They're capable of grief, the Caseys say. Since the violent death of Suzie,
the other 23 chimps the Caseys own have been abnormally quiet.

"Since it happened, everybody's just been laying around," Connie Casey
said. "They're grieving. They definitely know someone is missing."

There are differing accounts of the events that led up to the death of the
animal. Suzie and the other chimps escaped after Connie Casey failed to
properly secure the lock on their cages, she admits. Mike Casey was out of
town with other animals, making a TV commercial.

The animals left the Casey property and soon were in the nearby yard of the
house where the youth lives.

He arrived home with friends and killed the chimp soon thereafter, he told
Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputies.

Authorities say the boy told deputies that his friends were trapped in the
truck by the three apes, which, he said, were aggressive and threatening
and that he was forced to protect them with a gun.

Reached by telephone at home earlier this week, the youth refused to
comment. He will be retaining a lawyer, he says.

But witnesses said the killing of the ape appeared unnecessary. J.C. Wills,
a man whose house is only yards from where the shooting took place, said
the youth's statements to police were untrue.

The youth and his friends, who had driven up in a truck while Connie Casey
was pursuing the animals, had all gone safely into the house, Wills says.
 
Only then, he said, did the youth emerge with a shotgun.

"We told those boys to go in their house and stay there, and they won't
have any problems, but instead, one of them gets a gun and comes out,"
Wills said.

"That chimp had been shot with a tranquilizer dart and was no harm to
anyone, but he shot him three times with a shotgun."

A woman who slowed down to see the commotion as she drove by the house saw
Suzie in the yard and the boy with the shotgun on the porch and guessed
trouble was brewing.

"I saw the chimpanzee sitting under a bush near the road, and I knew it was
under control," said Christine Thomas, who lives nearby.

"But then I saw that boy on the porch with his friends, and they had a gun;
and I knew what they were going to do."
 
Thomas says it was obvious that the youths were in no danger.

"(Suzie) was just sitting at the bush, playing with it, smelling its
leaves, petting the tree, like monkeys do," she said.

The youth shot Suzie three times while Connie Casey, Wills and contractors
who had been working on Casey's house stood nearby, begging him not to
fire.

The youth threatened to kill the other animals, which had gathered near
Suzie's body.

Connie Casey and the contractors shielded them with their bodies, they said.

The Caseys say they want to pursue federal charges because chimpanzees are
federally protected, endangered animals.    

GRAPHIC: PHOTO Color Photos by DAVID Y. LEE /POST-DISPATCH
(1) Hannah, a 9-month-old chimpanzee, sits in her crib at the home of Mike
and Connie Casey, in Festus. The Caseys operate a business called
Chimparty, and the Missouri Primate Foundation.
(2) Connie Casey and 9-month-old Hannah share a kiss. A local teen killed
Suzie, a 28-year-old chimp that the Caseys had owned for 17 years.