Chimp attack: Victim of pet chimpanzee attack moved to face transplant clinic

The woman whose face was mauled and bitten by a rampaging chimpanzee has been transferred to the Cleveland Clinic, which two months ago performed USA's first facial transplant.

Charla Nash (55) was transferred from Stamford Hospital to the Cleveland Clinic on Thursday, three days after an attack by her friend's chimp left her with extensive injuries to her face and hands.

Bill Ackley, an emergency medical worker who was among the first to tend to Nash, said medical workers found her face down Monday in friend Sandra Herold's driveway, completely unrecognisable. The first police officers on the scene couldn't tell if the body was male or female, and warned dispatchers that the victim's face was ripped away.

Spokeswoman Eileen Sheil said Nash was being seen by a head and neck surgeon and likely will be treated through a team approach, involving many specialists.

"I don't know at this point" if a transplant will be considered, Sheil said. "Priority one is to stabilise her."

Four teams of surgeons specialising in hand, plastic, orthopedics, ophthalmology, trauma and anesthesia performed more than seven hours worth of surgery on Nash on Monday to stabilise her. She left Connecticut in critical condition, although with her vital signs slightly improved since the operation, hospital officials said.

Nash's transfer to Cleveland likely is because of the clinic's expertise in facial reconstruction -- not because doctors are considering a transplant right away, a leading surgeon said.

"This is a difficult time for the patient and she will need to adjust to it first. All the other options should be discussed first" before something as radical and risky as a transplant is considered, said Dr Bohdan Pomahac, a reconstructive surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

"It would be unusual" to perform one so soon for Nash, he said. To consider it, doctors must make sure she is medically stable, that alternatives have been carefully considered, and that she truly had given informed consent, because a transplant requires taking anti-rejection drugs lifelong, Lee said.

That could conceivably be done in a matter of weeks, but "to find a suitable donor with matching skin color and size and other features, that's a practical limitation," he said.

The 14-year-old pet chimp named Travis, who attacked Nash was shot and killed by police.

The owner has said her chimp's behavior was completely out of character, speculating that Travis was being protective of her when he attacked Nash.

But on Thursday, a second victim came forward saying the same chimp who mauled Nash this week bit her over a decade ago. However, animal experts say because of his young age, Travis' 1996 attack may have been nothing more than playful aggression.

Police are investigating what could have led Travis to suddenly go berserk and attack a face he was so familiar with. They haven't ruled out the possibility of filing charges, and have said they're interested to see the results of the necropsy, which should be released in the next few weeks.