LOCAL & STATE
TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A5
Owner of chimp credits deputy with saving her daughter
■ A Umatilla County Sheriff’s deputy shot a Umatilla County woman’s pet chimpanzee after it attacked her daughter June 20
“It was horrible, but it had to
happen.”
By Phil Wright
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Tamara Bro-
goitti’s voice on the 911 call is clear
and direct.
“My pet chimpanzee has attacked
my daughter,” Brogoitti told a
dispatcher. “She’s bleeding profusely.
And the animal has to be shot.”
The attack occurred June 20, at
Brogoitti’s home and ranch on Rieth
Road, across from the entrance to
the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Of-
fi ce. Brogoitti, 68, spoke about the
attack and death of Buck publicly
for the fi rst time June 22.
“There are no … he was my son,”
she said. “What I do want to do, I
want to thank the Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Offi ce.”
In particular, she thanked the
deputy who had to pull the trigger.
“He sent Buck to heaven and
saved my daughter,” she said. “It
was a horrible thing that happened.
For the rest of my life I will thank
that man for what he did.”
She said the deputy acted with
professionalism in a crisis.
“My daughter was losing blood,
and emergency personnel needed to
get to her,” she said. “There were no
options.”
The body cam video the sheriff’s
offi ce released June 22 of the shoot-
ing shows Buck from a distance in
an enclosed patio. Brogoitti is out of
view, hiding in a basement with her
daughter, but her voice is evident
and she directs the deputy to shoot
the ape.
The deputy fi red once, hit-
ting Buck in the head, killing the
200-pound chimpanzee.
“There was no pain,” Brogoitti,
said. “My beautiful son folded
forward and was with God. There
wasn’t a twitch. ... He just went to
be with God. It was horrible, but it
had to happen.”
Brogoitti said she was at her
daughter’s side at St. Anthony Hos-
pital, Pendleton. She did not get into
what provoked the attack, but said
her daughter, 50, suffered bites on
her thighs and buttocks. The plan
was for her daughter to leave the
hospital June 23 and live for a while
at Brogoitti’s home, where she will
undergo physical therapy.
— Tamara Brogoitti, Umatilla
County resident whose pet
chimpanzee, Buck, was shot and
killed by a sheriff’s deputy on June
20 after it attacked Brogoitti’s adult
daughter
Buck Brogoitti Animal Rescue/Contributed Photo
This photo from 2015 shows Buck, the adult male chimpanzee
Tamara Brogoitti cared for at her ranch near Pendleton. A Umatilla
County sheriff’s deputy on Sunday, June 20, 2021, shot and killed
the primate after it attacked Brogoitti’s adult daughter.
released two clips of the 911 call
Brogoitti made after the attack took
place and she was able to get into
the basement with her daughter.
Ward explained most of the 911
recording includes pauses with little
Sheriff’s offi ce fl ags residence
information while emergency help
Brogoitti also did not get into
arrived. The sheriff’s offi ce released
details about how she and her late
the two clips, she said, because those
husband, John Brogoitti, acquired
segments were the most relevant to
Buck as a baby 17 years ago, only
helping the public understand what
to specify it was not to exploit the
happened.
animal for fi nancial gain. Buck, she
Ward also said the sheriff’s offi ce
said, never appeared on a TV show, had “fl agged” the Brogoitti residence
for example.
because of Buck. She said the sher-
Umatilla County Sheriff’s Lt.
iff’s offi ce uses such indicators so its
Sterrin Ward said the sheriff’s offi ce staff can take proper precautions
is treating this as it would any other and be safe at certain locations.
animal attack, referring its report to
PETA warns state
the county’s public health depart-
Buck also pinged the radar of the
ment and the district attorney’s
nationwide nonprofi t People for the
offi ce.
Ethical Treatment of Animals. Brit-
The sheriff’s offi ce on June 21
Brogoitti also complimented the
medics who rushed her daughter to
the hospital, and thanked the hos-
pital staff for its “unbelievably won-
derful” treatment of her daughter.
tany Peet, the PETA Foundation’s
deputy general counsel for Captive
Animal Law Enforcement, issued
this statement on June 21 about the
attack:
“PETA warned state authorities
that Tamara Brogoitti had created
a ticking time bomb by engaging
in direct contact with a danger-
ous ape, and now, he is dead
and a woman has been mauled
because of Brogoitti’s refusal to
follow experts’ advice and transfer
Buck to an accredited sanctuary.
Since long before the chimpanzee
Travis ripped a woman’s face off
in 2009, it has been clear that
attacks are inevitable so long as
people continue to treat chimpan-
zees like Chihuahuas.”
Oregon banned possession of
exotic animals in 2010, with two
exceptions:
• If the U.S. Department of
Agriculture licensed the owner of
the animal.
• If the owner has a valid
Oregon exotic animal permit
obtained prior to 2010.
Brogoitti fell into the second
category. But according to PETA,
Brogoitti was violating state laws
and rules and the terms of her
permit for keeping Buck.
PETA on April 16 sent a letter
and complaint about Brogoitti to
Isaak Stapleton, director of Food
Safety and Animal Health, the
agency under the Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture that issues
permits for exotic animals.
PETA’s complaint stated the
permit the agriculture depart-
ment issued to Brogoitti lists Dr.
Douglas Pernikoff of Glencoe,
Missouri, as the veterinarian
caring for Buck. Aside from being
more than 1,800 miles away from
where Buck lived, Pernikoff is not
licensed to practice veterinary
FIREWISE
N ORTHWEST B RIEFING
Continued from A1
The fi rst, in the Pine Creek/Spring
Creek area northwest of Baker City,
was formed in 2020.
The Eagleton Firewise Community
had its second meeting Friday, June 25,
during which property owners dis-
cussed the project and ways to protect
their mountain cabins during what
could be a dangerous fi re season.
Brandi Sangster, who owns property
in the area, said owners had been talk-
ing about becoming a Firewise Com-
munity for a few years. They decided to
pursue the offi cial designation during
the COVID-19 pandemic, when some
people had more time to devote to the
effort.
“After we had a fi re back in 2015,
everybody saw what can happen,” Sang-
ster said. “East Eagle has one way in
and one way out and that’s why it’s kind
of dangerous.”
Sangster was referring to the Eagle
Complex fi re, which burned about
12,700 acres in the Eagle Creek canyon
in August 2015.
Following the devastating fi res during
Labor Day weekend 2020 in western
and southern Oregon, which destroyed
more than 4,000 homes and killed 11
people, more residents, especially those
who live in or own property in the
“wildland-urban interface” where homes
are in or near forests, are interested in
protecting their property.
Gary Timm, deputy director of Baker
County Emergency Management, has
been talking with landowners across
the county about the risks. Timm also
helps property owners work through
the Firewise Community process if
they’re interested.
“It really depends on the location and
if they’ve got some people willing to
Spare part allows critical chlorine plant in
Washington to get back online
Amy Charlton/Contributed Photo
Property owners in the East Eagle Creek area in the Wallowa Mountains
north of Richland gathered on Oct. 16, 2020, to discuss becoming a certifi ed
Firewise Community. Krag Peak is in the background.
He was greeted by nearly 30.
“Most people understand the risks,
especially in the wildland-urban
interface settings where the fi res are so
bad,” Timm said. “They don’t want to be
part of the problem. They want to work
together and be part of the solution.”
Among the steps property owners
need
to make their structures more
— Gary Timm, Baker County
fi
re-defensible
are removing pine
Emergency Management
needles from gutters, trimming grass
and shrubs, storing fi rewood away
take the steps,” Timm said. “So many
from structures and maintaining a
people wear different hats; it’s hard to
clear driveway so fi re trucks have easy
fi nd the time.”
access.
Timm met with property owners in
Sometimes it is diffi cult for older
the East Eagle Creek area for the fi rst residents to do this type of laborious
time in September 2020, the same
work, and that’s when neighbors come
month property owners in the Spring
together to see what they can do to
Creek Firewise Community gathered
help, Sangster said.
for a barbecue to celebrate their fi rst-in-
“We’re all good neighbors and friends
the-county designation.
up there, anyway,” Sangster said. “If
Timm said he expected fi ve or six
you need help, there are several of us
East Eagle Creek property owners to
who are young and spry who can help
attend the initial meeting.
out.”
“Most people understand the risks,
especially in the wildland-urban
interface settings where the fi res are
so bad. They don’t want to be part
of the problem. They want to work
together and be part of the solution.”
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medicine in Oregon, according to
PETA.
The state agriculture depart-
ment also requires cages or rooms
of certain dimensions and materi-
als to confi ne exotic animals. But
per the complaint, social media
posts show Buck would roam
Brogoitti’s home and other parts
of the property. PETA also alleged
Brogoitti misrepresented Buck’s
age to the agriculture department,
a violation of the permit.
Debbie Metzler, associate direc-
tor of PETA’s Captive Animal Law
Enforcement, said the organiza-
tion has rescued 13 chimps from
private captivity since 2013.
Chimps are social animals and
can be violent animals, she said.
Buck, for his entire life, lacked the
companionship of other chimpan-
zees, she said, and Brogoitti was
not following the law.
“We felt it was imperative to in-
form the state of these violations,”
Metzler said.
She also said Buck attacking a
person was bound to happen.
If Buck’s death can serve any
purpose, Metzler said, it’s to bring
attention to the Captive Primate
Safety Act, a proposal in Congress
that would prohibit the buying,
selling and transporting of any
live exotic wildlife.
Metzler said this act has been
before Congress in the past, but
it’s never made it to a president’s
desk for a signature. Passage of
the bill, she said, would prevent
more horrible situations similar to
Buck’s.
Metzler also said no one else
in the region owns a primate, but
PETA is calling on all owners of
primates to make arrangements
to move them to facilities that can
properly care for the animals.
Keeping primates, such as Buck,
she said, is “basically a death
sentence.”
Brogoitti said she still was
feeling shock from the traumatic
events, but now her attention has
to shift.
“The only thing I got to focus
on is my daughter,” she said, “and
making sure she is fully recovered
and properly taken care of.”
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Legislature passes bill allowing ballots
mailed on Election Day to count
PORTLAND (AP) — Oregonians could mail their
ballots up to and on Election Day and have them counted
under a bill headed to Gov. Kate Brown.
House Bill 3291 was passed by the state Senate on
Thursday, June 24 by a 16-13 vote.
Sen. Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, told The Oregonian/
OregonLive that the measure would help decrease voter
confusion.
Currently, ballots that arrive at county elections’ offi ces
after 8 p.m. on Election Day are not counted.
Under the bill, ballots that arrive in the mail up to
seven days after an election would be counted, unless
their postmark showed that they were mailed after Elec-
tion Day. If a postmark is missing or unreadable, the bill
would direct elections offi cials to assume the ballot was
mailed before the deadline.
That provision concerned Republicans.
“This is an invitation to fraud,” said Sen. Fred Girod,
R-Lyons. “What’s to stop a box of unstamped ballots from
going into the clerk’s offi ce?”
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LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — After a “major electrical
failure” at the Longview Westlake Chemical company
plant in earlier this month caused chlorine shortages
across the West Coast, a local business stepped in to help
replace the part and get the plant back online.
NORPAC gave the plant a spare transformer and
production restarted on Wednesday, June 23, The Daily
News reported.
Earlier in June, a piece of equipment experienced a
failure with an electrical transformer and had to be sent
off-site to be repaired. Plant offi cials originally estimated
the plant would be offl ine until the end of June at a
minimum.
Chlorination is critical in the water treatment pro-
cess that disinfects and kills bacteria, viruses and other
microbes, and multiple cities asked residents last week to
conserve water until the shortage was resolved.
Baker City obtains chlorine for disinfecting its water
from a different plant.
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