Pet Chimpanzee Shot and Killed After Attacking Pendleton Woman

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A fully-grown chimpanzee was shot by Umatilla County deputies after it attacked a woman.

It’s not clear what caused the more than 200 pound ape to charge about 8 a.m. Sunday.

When owner Tamara Brogoitti, 68, called the sheriff’s office. It had bit her 50-year-old daughter in the torso, arms and legs.

Her daughter escaped to a basement bedroom, while her mother held the door shut.

When deputies arrived, Brogoitti was holding the door to the home shut, while the ape was roaming a fenced area outside the house, said Sheriff’s Lt. Sterrin Ward.

To get help to the women they needed to put the animal down., and received permission from the owner., according to a news release from the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office.

They found the animal outside and shot it once, killing it.

Both women were taken to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Pendleton for treatment.



Brogiotti lived on the former horse rescue across from the sheriff’s office with the chimp for 17 years, so officers were aware of the animal.