Standard-Examiner staff
bcairns@standard.net
Few among us can claim living through a ripped-from-the-tabloids moment.
Jamie Bradley is one of those few, the survivor of startling "Man Attacked By Chimps" headlines that played out in Utah and across the nation a decade ago.
For proof, look no farther than Bradley's face, still scarred where a chimpanzee tore away part of his nose and ripped open his forehead.
Or to his left hand, missing one finger and mere halves remaining of two other fingers.
Bradley survived the injuries, married and became a father, and now looks back on the 1999 attack with a mixture of emotion, matter-of-factness -- and even levity.
"I always typed with two fingers anyway .<2009>.<2009>. it slowed down my typing at first," the former zoo worker quips during an interview at his Bountiful home.
Bradley, who was 28 when the three chimpanzees escaped from their enclosure at Utah's Hogle Zoo, even threw a party to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the 1999 incident -- a banparty.
Stuffed apes decorated the living room, and a Barrel of Monkeys game covered the top of a frosted cake. The invitations, too, were decorated with monkeys.
"A little humor, that's me," says Bradley.
There were tears and laughter as Bradley recounted his memories of the Feb. 27, 1999, event to friends and family packed shoulder-to-shoulder in his small apartment on the anniversary date. Some of those gathered added their own recollections of the incident.
Told that his friend was hospitalized from injuries inflicted by chimpanzees, Gordon Bray first thought it was a joke -- a lame excuse for why Bradley was late to meet him that day.
"It was one of those events that you don't ever imagine happening," says Bray, a Taylorsville resident who has known Bradley since third grade.
Wild animals
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