A4 The BulleTin • Friday, June 25, 2021
Owner of attacking chimp credits Portland protesters
deputy with saving daughter’s life sue feds over injuries
WALL OF MOMS
BY PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Tamara
Brogoitti’s voice on the 911 call
is clear and direct.
“My pet chimpanzee has at-
tacked my daughter,” Brogoitti
told a dispatcher. “She’s bleed-
ing profusely. And the animal
has to be shot.”
The attack occurred Sunday
morning, June 20, at Brogoitti’s
home and ranch, across from
the entrance to the Umatilla
County Sheriff’s Office. Bro-
goitti, 68, spoke about the at-
tack and death of Buck publicly
for the first time on Tuesday.
“There are no … he was
my son,” she said. “What I do
want to do; I want to thank the
Umatilla County Sheriff’s Of-
fice.”
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 person-
nel needed to get to her,” she
said. “There were no options.”
The body cam video the
sheriff’s office released Tuesday
of the shooting 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 evi-
dent and she directs the deputy
to shoot the ape.
The deputy fired once, hit-
ting Buck in the head, killing
the 200-pound chimpanzee.
“There was no pain,” Bro-
goitti, 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
the 911 call Brogoitti made af-
ter 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 information while
emergency help arrived.
Buck Brogoitti Animal Rescue/Contributed
This photo from 2015 shows Buck, the adult male chimpanzee Tamara
Brogoitti cared for at her ranch near Pendleton. On Sunday, a Umatilla
County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed the primate after it attacked
Brogoitti’s adult daughter. People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals
in April warned the state Brogoitti allowed the ape to roam her prop-
erty and therefore violated her permit to keep Buck.
Hospital, Pendleton. She did not
get into what provoked the at-
tack, but said her daughter, 50,
suffered bites on her thighs and
buttocks. The plan was for her
daughter to leave the hospital
Wednesday and live for a while
at Brogoitti’s home, where she
will undergo physical therapy.
Brogoitti also complimented
the medics who rushed her
daughter to the hospital, and
thanked the hospital staff for
its “unbelievably wonderful”
treatment of her daughter.
Sheriff’s office flags residence
Brogoitti also did not get
into details about how she and
her late husband, John Bro-
goitti, acquired Buck as a baby
17 years ago, only to specify it
was not to exploit the animal
for financial gain. Buck, she
said, never appeared on a TV
show, for example.
Umatilla County Sheriff’s
Lt. Sterrin Ward said the sher-
iff’s office is treating this as it
would any other animal attack,
referring its report to the coun-
ty’s public health department
and the district attorney’s of-
fice.
The sheriff’s office on June
21 released two audio clips of
PETA warns state
Buck also pinged the radar
of the nationwide nonprofit
People for the Ethical Treat-
ment of Animals. Brittany Peet,
the PETA Foundation’s deputy
general counsel for Captive
Animal Law Enforcement, is-
sued this statement on Monday
about the attack:
“PETA warned state author-
ities that Tamara Brogoitti had
created a ticking time bomb by
engaging in direct contact with
a dangerous ape, and now, he
is dead and a woman has been
mauled because of Brogoitti’s
refusal to follow experts’ ad-
vice 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 chimpanzees like Chi-
huahuas.”
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 Or-
egon exotic animal permit ob-
tained prior to 2010.
Brogoitti fell into the sec-
ond category. But according to
PETA, Brogoitti was violating
state laws and rules and the
terms of her permit for keep-
ing Buck.
PETA on April 16 sent a let-
ter and complaint about Bro-
goitti to Isaak Stapleton, direc-
tor of Food Safety and Animal
Health, the agency under the
Oregon Department of Agri-
culture that issues permits for
exotic animals.
BY CATALINA GAITÁN
The Oregonian
A Wall of Moms partici-
pant and a 17-year-old girl
sued the federal government
Wednesday for injuries they
suffered during racial justice
protests last summer, joining
a growing group of people al-
leging excessive force by fed-
eral officers.
Kristen Jessie-Uyanik, 42,
and Lillian “Beck” West, 17,
are named as plaintiffs in the
lawsuit filed in U.S. District
Court in Portland. They are
seeking unspecified compen-
satory and punitive damages.
Jessie-Uyanik’s voice qua-
vered as she described the
night of July 25.
She was standing outside
the federal courthouse, link-
ing arms with the Wall of
Moms and wearing safety
goggles and a helmet, she said
at a news conference with
other injured protesters.
Without warning, a fed-
eral agent aimed a gun at her
head and shot her between
the eyes just before 11 p.m.,
she said. She collapsed into
the arms of the women
standing beside her, blood
streaming into her eyes, she
said.
“I truly thought I was go-
ing to die and that I would
never see my three young
children again,” Jessie-Uyanik
said.
She was taken by ambu-
lance to a local hospital where
she received seven stitches.
The wound on her forehead
has since healed, but the scar
is a daily reminder of getting
shot, she said.
Nathaniel West spoke on
behalf of his daughter, Beck,
and said the two were stand-
ing beside a fence around the
Justice Center downtown also
on July 25. They were wear-
ing gas masks, safety goggles,
helmets and heavy clothing,
he said.
Catalina Gaitán/The Oregonian
Protesters spoke at a press con-
ference Wednesday alongside
enlarged images of the injuries
they sustained while demon-
strating in downtown Portland
in July 2020.
West said they hadn’t heard
any warnings to disperse
when a federal agent lobbed
a grenade over the fence
toward them shortly after
11 p.m.
The grenade exploded
next to his daughter’s head,
“shredding her left eardrum
(and) melting and bruis-
ing the skin on her face and
neck,” West said. When they
arrived home, they found
small rubber pellets melted
and embedded into the safety
gear around her face.
His daughter had eardrum
replacement surgery in May
but will likely never fully re-
gain her hearing, he said.
Attorneys who have pre-
viously represented the U.S.
Department of Homeland
Security did not respond to
requests for comment.
Nathaniel West also is one
of four protesters who filed a
class-action lawsuit in August
against the federal govern-
ment alleging excessive force
against peaceful demonstra-
tors.
The suit claims the Trump
administration deployed fed-
eral agents unlawfully and
that the officers escalated
tensions by using a variety of
crowd-control tactics against
nonviolent protesters, includ-
ing tear gas and flash-bang
grenades.
LAST CALL FOR PHOTOS!
We want your historic
photos for our upcoming
Hello Bend! pictorial history book.
We’re looking for group photos from the 1950s
to 2000s such as class reunions or work crews
in Central Oregon. We will scan your photos and
hand them back to you at the event.
For details, email: gobrien@bendbulletin.com
Bring in your photos for a chance to win a FREE
copy of the Hello Bend! pictorial history book!
SCANNING SESSIONS
June 24-25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.,
or by appointment until July 16.
email: gobrien@bendbulletin.com or call 541-383-0341