Travis was a male chimpanzee who, as an animal actor, appeared in several television shows and commercials, including spots for Coca Cola, as well as on television programs including The Maury Povich Show and The Man Show, though it has been disputed that Travis is the same chimpanzee who made these appearances.

On February 16, 2009, at around 3:40 p.m, Travis attacked Sandra Herold's then 55-year-old friend, Charla Nash, inflicting devastating injuries to her face and limbs. Travis had left the house with Sandra Herold's car keys, and Nash came to help get the chimp back in the house; upon seeing Nash holding a Tickle Me Elmo, one of his favorite toys, Travis flew into a rage and attacked her. Travis was familiar with Carla, although she had a different hairstyle at the time of the attack, which may have also confused and alarmed him. He was being given medication for Lyme disease. Herold attempted to stop Travis by hitting him on the head with a shovel and stabbing him in the back with a butcher knife.

Sandra Herold later said, "For me to do something like that, put a knife in him, was like putting one in myself." The chimp turned around, she said, as if to say, "'Mom, what did you do?'" The animal grew angrier. Herold, at this point, believing Carla Nash to be dead, then rushed to her car, locked herself inside and called 911. Travis' screams can be heard in the background at the start of the tape as Herold pleads for the police, who initially believed the call to be a hoax until she said, "He's eating her!" Emergency medical services waited for police before approaching the house. When they arrived, Travis headed towards the police car, tried to open a locked passenger door, and smashed a side-view mirror. Then he went around to the driver's-side door and opened it, at which point Officer Frank Chiafari shot him four times with his service pistol. Travis retreated to the house, where he was found dead next to his cage.

The emergency crew described Nash's injuries as "horrendous". Within the following 72 hours, Nash underwent more than seven hours of surgery on her face and hands by four teams of surgeons. The hospital provided counseling to its staff members who initially treated her because of the extraordinary nature of Nash's wounds. Paramedics noted she had lost 9 fingers, nose, eyes, lips, and mid-face bone structure and received significant brain tissue injuries. Doctors removed chimpanzee hair and teeth that had been implanted into her bones and reattached her jaw, but announced on April 7, 2009, that Nash would be blind for life. Her injuries made her a possible candidate for an experimental face transplant surgery. After initial treatment at Stamford Hospital, Carla Nash was transferred to the Cleveland Clinic. Her family started a trust fund to raise money to pay her "unfathomable" medical bills and support her daughter. Nash revealed her damaged face in public for the first time on The Oprah Winfrey Show on November 11, 2009. She was not at that time in physical pain from the attack, and family members said she hoped to leave the Cleveland Clinic soon. Pictures have surfaced on the Internet displaying Nash's face before and after the attack.

In accordance with standard procedure, Travis' head was taken to the state laboratory for a rabbies test, and the body was taken to the University of Connecticut for a necropsy. The head tested negative for rabies, but there was Xanax (Alprazolam) remaining in his system. Necropsy results in May 2009 confirmed the chimp was overweight and had been stabbed. The remains were cremated at All Pets Crematory in Stamford on February 25, 2009. Toxicology reports confirmed Sandra's statement that she had given Travis Xanax-laced tea the day of the attack, which could have exacerbated his aggression. Xanax is a short-acting, potent anti-anxiety drug that can cause disinhibition and disorientation and occasionally paradoxical reactions of hallucination, aggression, rage, and mania in humans.

On May 24, 2010, 15 months after the attack, Sandra Herold died suddenly of a ruptured aortic aneurysm at the age of 72. Her attorney, Robert Golger, released the following statement: "Mrs. Herold had suffered a series of heartbreaking losses over the last several years, beginning with the death of her first and only daughter who was killed in a car accident, then her husband, then her beloved chimp Travis, as well as the tragic maiming of friend and employee Charla Nash. In the end, her heart, which had been broken so many times before, could take no more."

On May 28, 2011, Nash underwent transplant surgery performed by a team led by Bohdan Pomahac at Brigham and Women's Hospital, receiving a donated face and hands. The transplant of the hands was initially successful, but because Nash developed pneumonia shortly thereafter, doctors were forced to remove her newly transplanted hands 5 days after the transplant due to the infection and resulting poor circulation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_ (chimpanzee)

https://allthatsinteresting.com/charla-nash