Gibraltar ape savages tourist’s arm

A BRITISH tourist to Gibraltar needed 40 stitches in his arm following an attack by a pack of apes. And nurses described his injuries as “the worst they’d ever seen.”

Fifty-three-year-old retiree Stuart Gravenell was holidaying in Gibraltar with his son Bradley when they were charged down by a pack of the Rock’s famous Barbary apes as they walked through a nature reserve. The largest male of the group – standing at more than three feet tall – plunged his teeth into Mr Gravenell’s left arm and started viciously shaking his head.

The former IT worker was rushed to hospital after passing out from the pain, and was told by nurses that his injuries were so bad that if he had been a child they would have led to an arm amputation. He received 40 stitches and had to spend three nights in hospital.

He has suffered extensive nerve damage in his forearm coupled with a pronounced loss of feeling, according to the Daily Mail.

“I have no recollection of the actual incident – I think I must have blocked it out,” said Mr Gravenell. “But Bradley said it just ran up and stopped dead in its tracks and jumped on me, half on my back and half on my shoulder.

“He said it grabbed my arm – I’ve got claw marks – and it bit into my arm and just shook. It was so aggressive. It savagely bit my arm, tearing it open.”

Mr Gravenell has called on the government of Gibraltar to do more to warn visitors about the danger of the Barbary macaques.

“Everyone I was speaking to out there said the apes are getting out of control,” he said. “I’m scared they are going to wait until there is a fatality to take action.”

A spokesman for the government said that while the situation is “unfortunate,” the apes are wild “and as much as possible is done to give notice.”