The chimps sleep in two locked cages every night in their own bedroom,
complete with satellite television."
Rizzotto's chimps often act like real toddlers,
eating snacks and cuddling on the couch...but they put on
their own diapers and pajamas!"
Rizzotto warns Boyd not to get too close, because the
chimp could reach out and pull him towards the cage."
INSIDE EDITION's Paul Boyd bravely sits with
Kramer on the couch, but has enough when the chimp
pokes him in the ear.
Chimps Kramer and Connor are brothers of Travis the
chimp, who recently brutally attacked a 55-year-old woman."
Owner Jeanne Rizzotto knows the dangers, and has built a fortified enclosure in her home to house the chimps in.
INSIDE EDITION's Paul Boyd was about to have a
close encounter with a chimpanzee, and he wasn't feeling very comfortable about it.
The chimp's owner, Jeanne Rizzotto, tells him not to be worried, and to feel free to say hello.
But this isn't just any chimpanzee. He's the brother of Travis, the 200-pound chimp that went berserk and ripped the face off a 55-year-old woman in Connecticut.
The chimpanzee's name is Kramer. He and Travis share a father. And just like Travis, 4-year-old Kramer lives inside a house with his owner, near Billings, Montana.
When Rizzotto directs Boyd to give Kramer and hug and a kiss, he asks if Kramer is always roaming free in the house, and whether that is dangerous. "It is dangerous," she says. "It's dangerous at any age. Not that they're going to attack you. It's just dangerous."
Kramer lives inside the house with another of Travis's brothers, named Connor. Rizzotto spent $85,000 to buy the two chimps when they were just babies. She got them from the same breeder who sold Travis to the woman in Connecticut.
With help from her son Brandon, she cares for the chimps in a heavily fortified enclosure in her home.
Rizzotto says that if Boyd were to get too close and put his hand out to the cage, Kramer would probably grab him, slam his face against the cage, and probably hit him on the head.
Unbelievably, the chimps spend their days like most human toddlers of the same age. There's story time, snack time, and plenty of playtime.
"I just like to give them things to do because they get really bored," explains Rizzotto.
And at bedtime, the chimps actually put on their own diapers and pajamas and head into their comfy bedroom, complete with satellite television. After a dinner of pasta and gravy, the chimps brush their teeth and are ready for bed.
"This is not normal," says Boyd. "What do you say to people who look at what you're doing and say this just isn't right?"
"Well it's right for me," Rizzotto says.
Rizzotto says she's gone to great lengths to keep her and her chimps safe, installing custom cages and security cameras.
"Now the security system up there...it allows you to keep an eye on them all night?" asks Boyd.
"I'm not so worried about them breaking out. I'm more nervous about someone getting in," Rizzotto says.
Unlike Travis the chimp, who had free run inside his owner's home, Kramer and Connor sleep locked inside their cages.
But they do get cuddle time on the couch where they watch television, and that's where Paul Boyd came face-to-face with Kramer.
The chimp starts to carefully inspect Boyd, and even sticks his finger into Boyd's ear.
"And there's no chance that he turns on me here in a second?" Boyd asks.
"I wouldn't let them around people like this in the next year or two," Rizzotto answers.
As the chimps get older and much stronger, Rizzotto says, face-to-face encounters like these will become a thing of the past. All to prevent the same tragic outcome of what happened with Travis and the woman he turned on.
"I know the limits from Travis. I'm being realistic. I'm not gonna fool myself," Rizzotto says."Source
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