The #1 source for news about monkeys and apes

[Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>]

Los Angeles Times
May 10, 2002 Friday  Home Edition

HEADLINE: Los Angeles;
2 Cities Can't Get the Hang of Chimp's Situation;
Animals: Moe, a skilled performer, was all set to move when it became 
clear one municipality didn't know what the other was doing.

BYLINE: CARA MIA DiMASSA, mgrundmann rimmed

BODY:
Call it the tale of two cities and one chimp.

In West Covina and Baldwin Park on Thursday, city councils held 
emergency meetings to decide what to do about Moe, a 36-year-old 
chimpanzee exiled from one city and apparently headed for the other.

Moe, who was once named an honorary citizen of West Covina, has been 
living at the Wildlife Waystation in the Angeles National Forest 
since late 1999, when he was removed from his home for biting a 
woman's finger and, a year earlier, seriously injuring the hand of a 
police officer who had chased Moe when he escaped.

Ever since, Moe's fate has been a contentious issue in West Covina, 
even propelling Moe's owner, St. James Davis, into a failed bid for 
political office. Davis and his wife, Ladonna, sued the city, and in 
a settlement finally announced this week, the couple agreed to move 
Moe to an industrial part of Baldwin Park, across from a county 
animal shelter. West Covina would buy the site and lease it to them 
for $1, under the settlement terms.

But there was a hitch: Apparently no one told Baldwin Park officials 
about the deal.

"We had no warning from our city attorney, and none of our staff 
knew," said Baldwin Park City Councilwoman Linda Gair.

Baldwin Park's attorney is Arnold Glasman. He also is West Covina's 
city attorney.
Glasman called a meeting of the Baldwin Park City Council on Thursday 
night to explain his actions regarding Moe on behalf of West Covina. 
Hours earlier, however, the West Covina City Council had met in 
emergency session and decided to take back its offer to the Davises, 
with a letter of apology to its neighbor. West Covina's mayor, city 
manager and a city council member delivered the letter personally.

The Davises, who relied on Moe's television and film work as a 
substantial part of their income, said the city overreacted three 
years ago when officials removed him from their home the day after he 
bit a visitor's finger.

They hired attorney Gloria Allred and collected nearly 60,000 
signatures on a petition demanding Moe's return.

"They took away the breadwinner of my family," St. James Davis, a 
former NASCAR driver, said Thursday. "He got taken away for something 
he didn't even do. Sure, he bit a police officer a long time ago, but 
... the person who claims she lost her finger has all of her fingers."

Under the settlement in the Davises' 3-year-old civil rights lawsuit, 
West Covina agreed to pay them $100,000. Davis said that the city 
also agreed to buy an air-conditioned building, in the 4200 block of 
North Elton Street, for Moe. That sounded like the perfect solution 
to Davis. He intended to build a habitat, a place that others could 
visit and learn about the chimp whom Davis rescued in Tanzania in the 
late 1960s after Moe's mother was killed by poachers.

"I wanted to put in a waterfall, a trampoline and a TV," he said. "He 
has no TV where he is at, he can't wear his clothes where he is at, 
and he can't make any money where he is at."

[...]

West Covina City Manager Andrew Pasmant said the city still intends 
to live up to the terms of the settlement, with this exception: The 
Davises must find suitable housing for Moe, and West Covina will pay 
for it.

Davis, who visits Moe at least once a week at the Wildlife 
Waystation, said he's concerned that the chimpanzee he raised, who 
can write his own name and is potty-trained, is now living in a cage.

"Moe is used to getting hugged and kissed all day ... but now all of 
his schooling and education has stopped. They only let us stay 10 or 
15 minutes at most."

In the Baldwin Park council meeting Thursday, Davis wore a blue 
ribbon Moe had received after riding in the 1972 Baldwin Park 
anniversary parade. Davis had hoped the evening would turn out 
differently.

"I kind of thought maybe it was a kind of homecoming. He'd be an 
asset to any community."