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When Animals Start Acting Like Animals

Once again, humans are outraged that animals have begun acting like...well...animals. It all started in Australia in the Sydney Harbor last week when a navy diver was attacked by a shark. The following day a surfer at Bondi Beach nearly lost his hand to a shark. Yet despite this, shark numbers are not increasing in the waters of New South Wales. And in an effort to convince people the water's fine, Sydney is still going ahead with its Harbour Swim Classic on March 1.

Then this morning, folks in the tri-state area were roiled to hear that a pet chimpanzee brutally attacked a friend of its owners in Stamford, Conn. The chimp was acting so crazy that eventually police shot him in self-defense. For reasons unknown, the 4-feet-tall, 200-lb, chimp (who does have a case of Lyme disease) got aggressive but usually he's very "normal."

The chimp liked watering flowers, wine, expensive steak, brushing his teeth and even watching baseball games on TV. Neighbors also said he liked to pretend to drive his owners' cars - including a pink Cadillac convertible.

We think it's insane that you want to keep a chimpanzee as a pet in your house. However, allowing a three-month old chimpanzee fly on a commercial airline on his way to the Frankfurt Zoo is perfectly acceptable.