A folder's potential role in subduing animal attacks?

Chimps?? I don't care what you have with you at the time it's just not going to help. Unless he had one in each hand and knew it was going to happen there is nothing you can do except flip your arms around, screem, look stupid and lose the balls then hopefully die. This is a sad story indeed.
 
Hmm , interesting. Yea it's easy to think of Chimpanzee's as lovable , grinning simians in diapiers , this story brings one back to reality.
On the other hand , I believe we as humans are not that far removed from the animal that lurks inside all of us. Imagine if you saw a loved one attacked by a large dog , bear or even a chimp , I cant speak for anyone else , and I dont want to "mall-ninja" (lol) but I would instantly turn into a raging maniac and try to hurt the beast or kill it the best I could , regardless of my own injury.
Todd
 
This story really freaked me out. This man would be lucky to simply die rather than go through life as scarred and shattered as he is. I wonder if the sanctuary had a no-knives policy. Two attacking chimps are fast, strong and dangerous, especially the way they coordinated their attack. But at least having SOMETHING you can use would be a benefit. And I agree, here's a case where it's yank and shank with a fixed blade - folder fumbling would not be an asset.
 
The story that I saw was on Fox news, saying that the victim's wife originally had the main aggressor chimp as a pet, checking him into the sanctuary for unspecified reasons.

There was a follow up story a couple days later with some sort of theory as to why the attack might have occurred....I missed that part. Did anyone catch that part? Could you tell me about it?


Thanks,

Thomas Zinn
 
hmmm... i dunno, fellas. i still think that as ferocious as an animal was, it might only fight "to the death" if you backed it into a corner & proceeded to attempt to carve it up. a pissed-off chimp's survival instincts are still intact, & i think that the severe pain signal of 4 inches of blade cutting either down its middle, across its neck, or even stabbing flush into its rib cage might lighten up the attack, & even make it retreat - & even influence the behavior of its tag team partner. lol, i guess it hurts my ego thinking that i'd be minced meat at the hands of a couple of chimps, knife or not. maybe lynn thompson could survive it with his tactical moves & special tights :p. but seriously, i'll continue to believe i can fillet a coupla buck-fifty-sized animals by myself, it makes me feel a little more Conan-ish.
 
I read somewhere that in the old time circuses they used to have wrestling chimps on the sideshow. I think it was kinda like Sumo wrestling, whoever threw the other out of the ring was the winner. It didn't matter who went in the ring, the chimp would throw them out - easily - every time.
 
Notwithstanding my original argument, that two full grown Chimps are more than a match for a normal human being, I do believe I would want to go down at least fighting. Bare hands wouldn't be much of a fight, but give me a blade and at least I could, hopefully, get in my own solid "licks." Better to go down fighting than to just go down. Same with a human attack, I'm better off having a weapon and defending myself than dying like a defenseless bleating sheep. Give me that steel "fang."
 
Garlic said:
hmmm... i dunno, fellas. i still think that as ferocious as an animal was, it might only fight "to the death" if you backed it into a corner & proceeded to attempt to carve it up. a pissed-off chimp's survival instincts are still intact, & i think that the severe pain signal of 4 inches of blade cutting either down its middle, across its neck, or even stabbing flush into its rib cage might lighten up the attack, & even make it retreat - & even influence the behavior of its tag team partner. lol, i guess it hurts my ego thinking that i'd be minced meat at the hands of a couple of chimps, knife or not. maybe lynn thompson could survive it with his tactical moves & special tights :p. but seriously, i'll continue to believe i can fillet a coupla buck-fifty-sized animals by myself, it makes me feel a little more Conan-ish.
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Here's another story, with a quote from the guy's wife.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=19&u=/ap/chimpanzee_attack

from that story:

LaDonna Davis said:
There was no stopping anything, and the big chimp came around from behind me and pushed me into my husband. The male came around from behind and chomped off my thumb. ... My husband must have realized we were in deep trouble because he pushed me backward. At that time, they both went for him.
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So the chimp tactic was instant hit - and go for your hands. And double-team whoever is still moving. Yeah, I'm getting my knife into action when the first part of the attack involves losing my thumb.

I'm not saying don't carry a blade. I'm saying I don't think it would have helped in this situation.

TorzJohnson said:
I read somewhere that in the old time circuses they used to have wrestling chimps on the sideshow. I think it was kinda like Sumo wrestling, whoever threw the other out of the ring was the winner. It didn't matter who went in the ring, the chimp would throw them out - easily - every time.
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I have an acquaintance, big guy, was a Hell's Angel, did felony time for performing violent acts against his fellow men. You know, a pussycat, no defensive reflexes or dirty fighting skills at all. ;)

Back in the day (he sez) he did one of these sideshow wrestling things against an orangutan. Granted, not a chimpanzee. Anyway, it was some kind of sixty second (thirty second?) match/wager thing. He spent the first half of the time limit pounding the ape to no visible effect, the carnie gave the signal, and it put him down and out in two seconds flat. As in wake up and have your buddies tell you what happened in the cage.

Hey, be armed, be trained, develop your mad skillz, and go down fighting instead of like a sheep. Those are fine things. But if it had been any one of us, with our tactical knives in our quick draw rigs and our years of blade training, my money would be on the chimps. We train for it, they're born for it. By the time they surprise you and get their teeth in, I'd say that STATISTICALLY, your response isn't much of a factor. Somebody else is going to save you, or they aren't.

What this poor bastid did was be in the wrong place at the wrong time and get jumped by the wrong bad guys. Golden beebee. After he sues whoever screwed up the cage security, he should buy a lifetime supply of beer for the guy who shot the chimps off him.
 
Before my German Sheppard died I used to walk him a couple miles every night. I live in a city and there are quite a few loose dogs. We would occasionally have to fight them off. Not wanting to have to kill someone's pet with my trusty Emerson, I began carrying a Cold Steel Sjambok. Say what you want about their knives, the Sjambok is one handy dandy self defense tool. Two pit bulls came after us one night. They were mainly after my dog and would no doubt have killed him had I not been carrying the Sjambok. Aimed for their heads, they didn't like that much. They took off, even yelped a couple times. Now would it have worked on a couple pissed off apes? Glad I never had to find out...
 
Interesting question. It would depend upon the skill level of the man with the knife also. With a knife, good skills and the ability to operate after the adrenaline dump, you might survive. Unarmed, monkey wins.
 
I asked my dad, who did a lot of fieldwork in the jungle. He said that while chimpanzees are short, heavy, stocky, and very strong in their upper bodies, the 6-7 man figure is a myth. Maybe 6-7 old people. He recommended a walking stick or club to discourage an attack.
 
Hey! Didn't Lon Chaney Jr. kill a Werewolf in the original Wolfman movie with a walking stick? It had a silver wolf on the grip-end. Seriously though, a large, solid stick just might be a better defensive tool against a modestly sized animal than a knife. Teddy Roosevelt used to advise carrying a big stick. Pretty good advice.
 
I'd say that a knife more than gives you a fighting chance. Someone mentioned earlier that animals don't fight to the death unless cornered, protecting its young, or rabid. Totally true. Hurt an animal sufficiently and it would rather back off than stay there and risk its life and limb. The only animal that loves to fight more than live is a true pit bull, which is an unnatural animal anyway in that fighting is bred into it. I'm not saying that that poor old couple could have fared better had they had knives, but certainly their age and being unarmed didn't help. A full grown healthy adult man with a knife trying to defend himself would be another matter.

BTW, I read in Jane Goodall's books when she was still actively researching chimps that the largest male they ever observed weighed in at 115 lbs. But that's a chimp in the wild, I've read where captive chimps average heavier because they get more food vs. their activity than their wild counterparts. I think Jane estimated the male chimp's upper body strength at 3 times an average human male, while their legs are much weaker than a human's. Still, when they go ape you don't want to be around them.
 
"Yeah, I'm getting my knife into action when the first part of the attack involves losing my thumb. "

LMAO.

Assuming a man had a knife and was squaring up against one chimp, and the guy knew what he was doing, i'd put my money on the man. I'm not so familiar with Chimp biology, but I'd assume they work like us, so one good slash or stab should deal with the problem (and I doubt a chimp is going to have some crazy feint or judo disarm technique).

Two chimps pounding on you though? This guy *is* lucky to be alive. Just think about fending off two strong humans! Thats hard enough!
 
Chimps take pretty serious injuries fighting each other. Unless your knife hits something vital, the chimp wouldn't even notice it until he was cooling off after he killed you.

If you make noise and throw things before he gets to you, he might back off. Chimps toss dirt and branches around in dominance displays. That's just conversation.

You just can't take chances with any wild animal. For some reason, they never seem grateful at being caged up far from home ...
 
Grapevine said:
I think Jane estimated the male chimp's upper body strength at 3 times an average human male, while their legs are much weaker than a human's. Still, when they go ape you don't want to be around them.
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That sounds more likely... but what do we mean by "average strength"? Are we talking wimpy college student average or infantry average?
 
I have handled been around chimps off and on for a few years now at a local zoo. They are very social animals, and very strong. I don't believe they are as strong as 8 men, most zoologists I work with put t he number at a realistic 3 or 4 men...still tough. But think of it this way, if the average adult male can bench press 150lbs, for discussions sake, say the average chimp can bench press 450. That is strong. I can get around 320 on a good day, and I like my chances in a life and death struggle with one chimp, but 2.... :eek:

As a side note, there is a 55 year old guy named Lee who cleans enclosures at the zoo. He has half of an ear gone and a serious scar that runs the length of his face. For a year I asked everyone what happened to him and they finally told me to ask him and when I did, he just stared at me and walked away. It turns out he was cleaning the enclosure of an adult male orangutan that he was very fond of. The orangutan was just reaching sexual maturity and getting fiesty. Well Lee got careless and turned his back on his "friend". The orangutang attacked and the fight was on. By the time the wardens got into the enclosure, Lee was a mangled mess...but the orangutang was dead. This guy had actually bitten the throat out of the orangutan, through the fur and all. He was quoted as saying "I got my face against his throat so he couldn't bite me anymore...the next thing I know i chomped down and didn't let go until the 'keepers got in there. I hated that he died though, he was a good friend"

I don't think the Human will to survive should be underestimated, after all there is a reason we are at the top of the food chain. ;)
 
It is pretty funny how you guys mention "a few stabs or slashes." Do you know how long it takes something pumped with adrenaline to die from a stab/slash? You have to wait until severe blood loss, which unless you hit a major artery or stab through his skull it takes enough time for that chimp to rip you to shreds. It isn't anything like in the movies where the guy gets stabbed, clutches his wound, and drops to the ground dead. I've gotten nails and sharp metal objects through my hands and had little to no pain until about 30 minutes later (which starts as a throbbing pain). Between endorphins and adrenaline I bet you could slash that chip up as much as you want and he wouldn't feel a thing until later. Once those chimps got going I really doubt there was much that could have saved him short of his wife having a high powered handgun or rifle and a real good shot.
 
If you think you are going to be in contact with dangerous animals, the best thing a 4" folder can do for you is cut and trim you a nice long stick that you can use to beat the apes and maintain some distance between them and you! The same is true for dogs or anything else with teeth and claws! If you get close enough to stab a dog or chimp, the chimp or dog can bite or scratch you and maybe rip out an artery or your Johnson!
 
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