• Texas student attacked by chimps in South Africa undergoes 6 hours of surgery

    A U.S. graduate student who was attacked by two chimpanzees while leading a tour at a sanctuary for abused animals, underwent six hours of surgery to stich and clean his wounds at a hospital in South Africa. NBC's Rohit Kachroo reports.

    By NBC News' Rohit Kachroo and The Associated Press

    Updated at 8:29 a.m. ET: A U.S. graduate student who was attacked by two chimpanzees while leading a tour at a sanctuary for abused animals underwent six hours of surgery on Sunday at a hospital in South Africa.

    Andrew Oberle, 26, suffered extensive soft-tissue injuries to his arms and legs. His wounds were cleaned and stitched under induced sedation, said officials at Mediclinic Nelspruit hospital in Nelspruit, a city east of Johannesburg. He remained in critical but stable condition.


     

    Oberle, a University of Texas at San Antonio graduate student, was mauled Thursday by two large male chimpanzees who pulled him under a fence into their enclosure at the Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden near Nelspruit.

    Oberle's sister, Elizabeth Sosa, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Oberle, who grew up in St. Louis, lost his ears, his left arm and all his toes in the attack.

    Chimp Eden, a joint venture with the ape conservation institute founded by renowned U.S. primatologist Jane Goodall, is a sanctuary for ill-treated chimpanzees rescued from the illegal pet and bush meat trades and from the entertainment industry.

    NBC News

    Andrew F. Oberle was attacked by chimpanzees at an animal sanctuary in South Africa.

    Sanctuary director David Oosthuizen said Oberle was working on a master’s degree in anthropology and primatology and was inspired by Goodall to study chimps. He was working as a guide and was with a group of tourists at an enclosure holding adult male chimpanzees when he was attacked by two of the larger males, named Nikki and Amadeus.

    At a press conference Sunday, Eugene Cussons, managing director of the chimp sanctuary and host of the Animal Planet show "Escape to Chimp Eden," said the animals became aggressive when Oberle tried to retrieve a rock from within their enclosure, according to NBC News.

    Witnesses reported seeing Oberle climb over an outer fence into a “no go zone” and step onto a rock jammed against the mesh of an inner fence, apparently so the chimp couldn’t take it and use it as a projectile, Cussons said. That’s when one chimp reached under the fence, grabbed Oberle’s foot and dragged him about 100 feet, Cussons said.

    Gunfire
    Oberle struggled, was repeatedly bitten and became partially lodged underneath the fence.

    The two chimps then turned on a vehicle that included sanctuary staff. They decided they couldn't get out to retrieve Andrew, so they retreated to a safe zone and prepared darting equipment.

    Cussons said he got out of the vehicle with a handgun and fired two rounds toward the chimps. The gunfire did nothing so Cussons retreated back to the vehicle.

    One chimp then jumped onto the vehicle and broke the windshield. Cussons said he fired one round through the window, striking Nikki. The wounded chimp made "vocalizations of submission and anxiety" and walked away, Cussons said.

    Cussons then found the injured Oberle, with deep lacerations and extensive damage to his hands and feet. An ambulance arrived and took him away.

    A U.S. student was viciously attacked by two chimpanzees at preserve in South Africa. His sister says he lost his ears, a leg and toes in the attack. NBC's Rohit Kachroo reports.

    It was the first such attack since Cussons, working with Goodall's renowned international institute, converted part of his family's game farm into the sanctuary in 2006.

    “You can train for it, you can do your best to prepare," Cussons told The Associated Press. "But when it actually happens, it's shocking and traumatic for everyone."

    Cussons said it was the first time he had asked Oberle to speak to visitors. The student had arrived last month for a follow-up visit after an extended stay to observe the chimps a year or so ago, Cussons said. As a researcher, Cussons said Oberle had been trained to ensure he understood how the animals might behave and knew to keep a safe distance. Cussons said Oberle was given additional training before addressing the tour group.

    Cussons said Oberle broke the rules by going through the first of two fences that separate humans from the chimps. The chimps then grabbed him and pulled him under the second fence, which is electrified. Cussons said it was unclear why Oberle had moved so dangerously close.

    Oberle's mother, Mary Flint, said Friday that her son knew the risks of working with chimps and would not want them blamed for the attack.

    "He adored them," she said. "Since he was a little boy he just loved them, and I just have faith that ... when all is said and done, he's going to go right back into it."

    The sanctuary remained closed Sunday.

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  • Report: US student fighting for life after chimps attack at South Africa's Jane Goodall Institute

    Erin Conway-Smith/AP, file

    Chimpanzees sit in an enclosure at the Chimp Eden rehabilitation center, near Nelspruit, South Africa in this Feb 2011 photo.

    By NBC's Rohit Kachroo and msnbc.com staff

    An American studying chimpanzee behavior in South Africa was “fighting for his life” after he was attacked by two of the animals, according to a report.

    The chimpanzees dragged the man for more than a mile, under a fence and into their enclosure at Jane Goodall Institute Chimp Eden near Nelspruit, The Telegraph newspaper reported.


    The paper said the victim of the attack had not been named. However, it said it understood he was a “young university student from the United States who had been observing the animals at the reserve for several weeks.”

    Jeffrey Wicks, a spokesman for private ambulance firm Netcare911, told the Telegraph that witnesses said the man was leading a group of tourists when the attack happened.

    "A ranger at a chimpanzee sanctuary near Nelspruit is fighting for his life after he was attacked by two frenzied animals while leading a tour group at the park this afternoon," he added. "According to eyewitnesses, two chimpanzees grabbed the man by his feet and pulled him under the perimeter fence and into the enclosure."

    Armed escorts for paramedics
    Paramedics needed armed escorts as they went in to treat the victim, NBC’s Rohit Kachroo reported. It was unclear whether this caused any delay.

    The victim was stabilized at the scene and taken by ambulance to a private hospital in Nelspruit, NBC said. There have been no similar attacks at the reserve, which opened more than six years ago.

    David Oosthuizen, Jane Goodall Institute executive director, confirmed the reserve was on lock down following the incident, The Telegraph said.

    NBC's Meredith Vieira sits down with Charla Nash, who recently underwent a face transplant that's helped her regain the life she had before being brutally attacked by a chimp.

    "We understand that the gentleman is stable and we really feel for him," he told the paper. "This has been very upsetting for everyone – it is just horrific. We are an organization that's respected worldwide for the work we do so anything like this is very bad."

    Victim of chimpanzee attack shares progress, optimism

    He added that some of the animals kept there had been abused before they were rescued and taken to the institute.

    "These chimpanzees have six times the strength of a human being so you have to respect them and we certainly do," he said.

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