Stamford, Conn. ? As authorities considered criminal charges, the woman whose 200-pound domesticated chimpanzee went berserk and mauled a friend backtracked Wednesday on whether she gave the animal the anti-anxiety drug Xanax.

Sandra Herold told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she never gave the drug to her 14-year-old chimp, Travis, who was shot dead by Stamford police Monday after he grievously wounded Herold’s friend Charla Nash.

However, Herold said in an interview aired Wednesday morning on NBC’s “Today” show that she gave Travis the drug in some tea less than five minutes before he attacked Nash — she even showed a reporter the mug. Police have said Herold told them that she gave Travis Xanax that had not been prescribed for him earlier on Monday to calm him because he was agitated.

In humans, Xanax can lead to aggression in people who are unstable to begin with, said Dr. Emil Coccaro, chief of psychiatry at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

“Xanax could have made him worse,” if human studies are any indication, Coccaro said.

The chimpanzee’s rampage forced Herold to stab her beloved pet with a butcher knife and pound him with a shovel.

“For me to do something like that — put a knife in him — was like putting one in myself,” she said Wednesday. “Then he turned around and like, ‘Mom, what did you do?'”

Herold’s voice was filled with fear and horror in 911 tapes released by police Tuesday night.

Travis can be heard grunting as she cries for help: “He’s killing my friend!”

The dispatcher says, “Who’s killing your friend?”

Herold replies, “My chimpanzee! He ripped her apart! Shoot him, shoot him!”

After police arrived, one officer radioed back: “There’s a man down. He doesn’t look good,” he says, referring to the disfigured Nash. “We’ve got to get this guy out of here. He’s got no face.”

Doctors at Stamford Hospital said Wednesday that it took four teams of surgeons more than seven hours to stabilize Nash, 55. Hand specialists, plastic surgeons and specialists in orthopedics, ophthalmology and trauma have treated Nash, who has made slight progress but remained in critical condition, Dr. Kevin Miller said at a news conference with the victim’s family.

Nash’s brother, Mike Nash, did not take questions from reporters but said the family is grateful for community support it has received.

“It should be known that people who were complete strangers to us prior to this have selflessly offered their assistance to our family,” he said. “We are eternally grateful to them and to all of you who are keeping Charla in your thoughts and wishing her well.”

Police have said they are looking into the possibility of criminal charges. A pet owner who knew or should have known that an animal was a danger to others can be held criminally responsible.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Wednesday that a defect in Connecticut’s laws allowed Herold to keep the chimp in her home, probably illegally. There are rules requiring large primates to be registered by the state, but officials have some discretion in enforcing them and violations carry only minor penalties, he said.

“This animal probably was illegally kept, so far as that statute is concerned,” Blumenthal said. “Clearly, some kind of permission was necessary for this animal to be at that residence.”

Herold, a 70-year-old widow whose daughter was killed in a car accident several years ago, told the AP the chimp “was my life” and that she “never, never, never” gave it Xanax. “He never had anything but love.”