Moe the chimp escapes from wildlife facility

A well-known chimp named Moe -- whose chimp companions brutally attacked Moe's owner in 2005 -- is missing from the Devore wildlife facility where he lived, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department reports.

"I have a chimp missing. I don't know if he escaped or not," said Tom Betty, a supervisor with the Sheriff's Department. Betty told The Times on Saturday night that Moe was believed to have fled into the San Bernardino National Forest and was being sought by animal control officers.

The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin has more:

On Friday afternoon, the chimp featured in several news stories over the years, escaped from Jungle Exotics near Devore. On Saturday, San Bernardino County animal-control officers and volunteers were searching the heavily forested area, while a privately owned helicopter circled overhead.

Michael McCasland, who said he was a friend of the West Covina couple who raised the chimp, likened the search to looking for a missing child. "These 24 hours since he got away are crucial just like looking for a child," he said. "He has never escaped into the wild before and has no food or water out there." McCasland, who was at the scene Friday and Saturday, said Moe might have escaped into the San Bernardino National Forest after being spooked by a recent fire.

McCasland said he was told that Moe opened his cage Friday and walked to the caretaker's home at Jungle Exotics, a business that rents animals to the entertainment industry. He then kept on going to a nearby home that is being remodeled. After surprising workers there, he disappeared into the wild. Animal-control officers could not be reached for comment, but they were involved in the search, according to U.S. Forest Service officials.

Moe has been at Jungle Exotics since last year. It is one of many places the chimp has lived since being raised in West Covina by St. James and LaDonna Davis. LaDonna Davis was there Saturday but did not comment on the missing chimp. According to McCasland, St. James Davis brought Moe home from Tanzania in the 1960s, after the chimp's mother was killed by poachers. He and his wife then raised the animal in West Covina, treating him much like they would a son.

It was an idyllic life, with Moe enjoying such treats as chocolate milk and watching TV with the family, until 1999, when he was forcibly removed from the home for being in violation of the city's wild animal ordinance. He was removed after biting a police officer and a female visitor.

In 2005, while the Davises were visiting Moe at the Animal Haven Ranch near Bakersfield to celebrate his birthday, two chimps in nearby cages attacked St. James Davis and nearly killed him.

In recent years, Moe was at the center of a legal battle between his owners and West Covina officials. An attorney for Moe's owners argued before Pomona Superior Court Judge Abraham Khan that the city owed the Davises money for breaking an agreement reached after the chimp was removed from the couple's Vincent Avenue home in 1999.

The battle in court has since ended. Since moving to Jungle Exotics last year, Moe has been a happy camper, McCasland said. The cage he was in had a lookout tower where he could see trains passing nearby. Saturday afternoon, McCasland was hopeful the ape would make it back to that cage but worried about what he might be facing in the wilderness. Anyone who sees the chimp is asked to call San Bernardino County Animal Control at (800) 472-5609.

Comments

[Brien Comerford]

It's urgent for Moe to be rescued. The priceless chimp must be safeguarded from people who may want to harm, exploit or illegally sell him.

[Amanda Wood]

The stupid city should have left this family and their chimp alone. Now the man has been disfigured and Moe is lost. This is all a disgrace.

[marian slayman]

I HAVE LIVED IN WEST COVINA FOR 38 YEARS. WE LIVE 4 BLOCKS FROM WHERE MOE GREW UP. MY CHILDREN LOVED MOE AND SO DID I. HE NEVER POSED ANY KIND OF A PROBLEM FOR THE PEOPLE IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD. THE BITING OF THE WOMANS FINGER YEARS AGO WAS HER OWN FAULT. WHEN MOE GOT OUT OF HIS CAGE AND THE POLICE WERE AFTER HIM HE WAS TERRIFIED. THEY ACTED LIKE HE WAS A SERIAL KILLER. NO WONDER WHY HE BIT AN OFFICER. MOE IS PART OF THE HISTORY OF THIS CITY AND WE WANT TO SEE HIM FOUND AND TREATED AS SUCH. I AM PRAYING FOR HIS SAFTEY. MARIAN SLAYMAN