Primate, Rabies and When Pets Attack

I have always found rabies fascinating. I came across rabies when I was young (in a book, not real life, thank God). For those who don’t know rabies is a virus that comes with a fear of water and when the virus attacks an animal’s brain it can become violent before it eventually kills them. For rabid animals there is no cure. Rabies will eventually kill an infected person too unless they are given the vaccine as soon possible or at least before symptoms begin to show. 

The reason rabies is on my mind is because I saw the movie Primate last night with a friend. It’s about a family pet chimp who gets bitten by a rabid mongoose, becomes rabid himself and goes on a killing rampage. Of course, it was over the top (a “gorno” which is a gory movie, not a porno). The chimp rips a jaw off a person in one scene and bashes another girl’s face in with a rock in another. It was so over the top it was almost funny. But rabies isn’t funny. Rabies is a very dangerous problem.

According to AI (which seems to know  more than everyone else), rabies kills about 70,000 globally. These deaths occur mostly in Africa and Asia but they are certainly not limited to there. For example, just last month a rabid coyote attacked a woman walking her dog in the next county over. In Asia and Africa, rabies comes primarily from dogs but other animals that can carry it are skunks, racoons and bats. My cousins celebrated their honeymoon by sleeping in the family cabin. When they awoke there was a bat flying around the room with them and because they were asleep and could not recollect if they got bitten, they had to get rabies shots. Probably a needless precaution but it’s important to err on the side of safety. One way you can tell an animal has rabies is if a nocturnal animal is acting funny and awake during the day.

Only one girl has ever survived rabies: Jeanna Giese.  She got bitten by a bat at age fifteen but she did not seek help, thinking it was nothing. By the time she told her parents, it was too late. The hospital took a risk and put her in a medically induced coma and they were able to bring her back. Unfortunately she suffered long term neurological effects and was never the same again. It was a hollow success but it was a success, nonetheless.

But it is not just rabid animals and it is not just chimpanzees who are dangerous. Primates are certainly risky pets (https://awionline.org/sites/default/files/uploads/documents/Incidents-Primate-Pets.pdf if you want to read further), with perhaps one of the more infamous cases being Charla Nash. The chimp wasn’t even hers. It belonged to a friend of hers. The chimp was acting agitated so Charla was trying to help. The chimp ripped her hands and face off. She was left blind and extremely disfigured and had to undergo several surgeries. 

Even dogs can pose a danger to families, the most famous being pitbulls. I have seen countless articles on pitbulls mauling or attacking babies and children and I can’t understand why anyone would want these animals as pets. 66% of all dog  bites in the United States are from pitbulls and they are responsible for 560 deaths despite making up only 6% of the dog population. This was from 2005 to 2011. Even my ex boyfriend had a dog (pitbull) that bit him and bit his little sister. He would sleep guarding the bathroom door and I was always afraid to pee.

I prefer cats or harmless breeds of dogs. Even huge dogs like Newfoundlands can be gentle and sweet. It is not the size of the dog its how its bred. But there is always an opening for a sequel to Primate and it will be called Pitbull. 

https://www.naperville-personal-injury-lawyer.com/why-pit-bulls-remain-the-most-dangerous-dog-breed/