PENDLETON — Tamara Brogoitti’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 Sunday morning, June 20, at Brogoitti’s home and ranch on Rieth Road, across from the entrance to the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office. Brogoitti, 68, spoke about the attack and death of Buck publicly for the first 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 Office.”

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 office released June 22 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 evident and she directs the deputy to shoot the ape.

The deputy fired once, hitting 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 Hospital, 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.

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 Brogoitti, 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 sheriff’s office is treating this as it would any other animal attack, referring its report to the county’s public health department and the district attorney’s office.

The sheriff’s office on June 21 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 information while emergency help arrived. The sheriff’s office released the two clips, she said, because those segments were the most relevant to helping the public understand what happened.

Ward also said the sheriff’s office had “flagged” the Brogoitti residence because of Buck. She said the sheriff’s office uses such indicators so its staff can take proper precautions and be safe at certain locations.

PETA warns state

Buck also pinged the radar of the nationwide nonprofit People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Brittany 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 dangerous 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 chimpanzees 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 Department of Agriculture that issues permits for exotic animals.

PETA’s complaint stated the permit the agriculture department 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 medicine in Oregon, according to PETA.

The state agriculture department also requires cages or rooms of certain dimensions and materials to confine 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 director of PETA’s Captive Animal Law Enforcement, said the organization 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 chimpanzees, she said, and Brogoitti was not following the law.

“We felt it was imperative to inform 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.”