At age 8, he saw a documentary about chimpanzees
and became so obsessed with them
that he studied them and when older often visited them
in zoos, watching them for hours.
As a student in college, he took courses that would enable
him to work with chimpanzees for a career.
For part of his coursework, he worked at Chimp Eden in
South Africa and excelled in his work there.
Serving as a tour guide at Chimp Eden, he saw a rock in
the chimp enclosure that could be hurled at visitors.
He slipped into the enclosure to remove the rock, turned his
back to exit the enclosure, and two chimps attacked him.
They bit off his nose, ears, parts of his face and scalp,
parts of his legs, and some of his fingers.
Thanks to part attendants, who scared off the chimps, he
wasn’t killed by them, though badly mained and near death.
Doctors managed to put him back together, prosthetics,
lots of plastic surgery and rehab.
He never worked with chimpanzees after that but started
a foundation for victims of trauma.
Tragic and sad the chimpanzees he loved and studied for
all of his life mauled, maimed, and nearly killed him.
Bob Boyd