Travis the chimp vs. recession/stimulus buzz

It’s a bizarre time, I admit. People are confused, on-edge, scared.
 
Evidently, so is the animal kingdom.
 
But whereas human beings are stymied by a confounding economy the likes of which hasn’t been seen in 80 years, a certain chimpanzee named Travis decided enough was enough and it was time to let his inner beast, out. Maybe he was just incredibly frustrated. After all, this particular chimp:

• Drank wine
• Bathed himself
• Wiped his bottom on the toilet
• Brushed his teeth with a Water Pik
• Channel surfed
• Ate lobster tails & filet mignon
• Knew how to take the keys and drive his owner’s car 

It’s a shame Travis went berserk and hurt another human being. I feel bad his owner had to stab her “son.”
 
I’m no animal expert, not by a long stretch. But I can’t help but wonder:

1. Does it ever make sense to forget that a chimp – even though it has a DNA structure closest to you and me – isn’t human? “These creatures are wild, and the violence that was exhibited by this chimpanzee is not unknown to wild chimpanzee society,” said Jeff Corwin, biologist and Animal Planet TV host. “What we should examine is, ‘Should people be keeping chimpanzees at home?’”
2. Is it a good idea to give your pet – in this case, a 200-lb. wild animal suffering from Lyme disease - some tea with Xanax in it to calm him down?
3. When you own an animal that’s five to seven times stronger than a human being, doesn’t it make sense to heed the old Boy Scout mission statement, “Be Prepared?” Shouldn’t you anticipate the day may eventually come when Travis figures he’s had enough of seeing his finger paintings on the refrigerator? Rather than grabbing a shovel and pounding the animal’s head, and then stabbing it, do you think his owner should have invested $300 on a taser and kept it in the kitchen drawer… just in case? 

At the time of this writing, there were 243,000 Google “Travis the Chimp” stories, 977,000 Google “chimpanzee attack” stories and 91 blogs. Are we so tired of recession/stimulus doom and gloom that the media (and we) are resorting to giving Travis the Chimp so much media attention? Well, maybe … after all he did drink wine and channel surfed…