Tonka from HBO’s Chimp Crazy was finally rescued after being kidnapped and is currently peacefully living in a sanctuary. However, a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) lawyer revealed that there are still thousands of chimpanzees in the USA that have been purchased and are being kept as pets in private homes.
“We don’t know exactly how many primates there are being kept as pets in private homes because of the patchwork of laws across the United States and the many states where there are no laws at all, but the latest estimate is around 15,000,” Brittany Peet, Foundation General Counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement at PETA told Bored Panda.
Similarly to Tiger King, Chimp Crazy shed an alarming light on the US’ exotic animal trade. Moreover, Chimp Crazy became HBO’s most-watched docuseries in years and has blown up across the internet.
In the four-part documentary series, Tonka, the chimpanzee at the center of the show, famously vanished from the now-defunct Missouri Primate Foundation (MPF) amid a legal battle between PETA and the notorious “exotic-animal” broker Tonia Haddix.
Tonka, who starred in the film Buddy alongside actor Alan Cumming – who also starred in the docuseries – was to be transferred to an accredited sanctuary as per a court order.
However, Haddix instead falsely reported him as dead and hauled him to a shady roadside zoo in Ohio, USA, before confining him to a tiny cage in her basement in Missouri for months.
Tonka from HBO’s Chimp Crazy was finally rescued after being kidnapped
Image credits: Save the Chimps
In the docuseries, Haddix admitted to documentary director Eric Goode and his crew that she had effectively chosen to go “on the run” with Tonka upon handing over six of her seven chimpanzees to the Save the Chimps, a sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Florida.
And, despite admitting on camera that she had sedated Tonka to run away with him – after claiming that sedation to transport him to the sanctuary would be fatal for him – Haddix has now refuted the portrayal of her escape with Tonka.
“I didn’t ever sedate him,” Haddix told Bored Panda in an email. “I just showed him the cage and he got in. He wanted to go with me, was kind, and I never had a reason to sedate.
“PETA sedated him at my house to take him away and he screamed and fought them for hours while they did it. It was heartbreaking.”
As shown in Chimp Crazy, Peet and her fellow animal rights lawyer Jared Goodman, accompanied PETA when they rescued Tonka in June 2022.
After a highly mediatized legal battle, Tonka is currently peacefully living in a sanctuary
Image credits: Save the Chimps
“It was a really stressful day, we were also worried because we had no idea if Tonka was going to be coming out of Tonia Haddix’s house alive that day because we didn’t know if what she claimed about his health was true and if he really was in that dire health condition, then we would have allowed him to be euthanized,” Peet recalled of the day.
In the docuseries, Haddix claimed that prior to his “death,” a veterinarian had told her Tonka was in congestive heart failure and had only weeks to live.
“We hoped that wouldn’t be the case,” Peet continued. “When we got there, the veterinarians determined that it was just too dark in the basement to actually be able to do a health exam, and so you saw [in Chimp Crazy].
The lawyer further recounted the event: “The exam was done outside on a porch off of the basement, and you could see how obese Tonka had become with no exercise and being fed the garbage that [Haddix] was constantly feeding him.”
During the time Haddix had been keeping Tonka hidden in a basement, the “Chimp Crazy Lady” showcased the at-the-time 32-year-old primate’s hand sticking through his cell, and explained that his roll of flesh wasn’t “fat” but built-up “fluid” from his “heart condition.”
Brittany Peet, who appeared in HBO’s Chimp Crazy, exclusively spoke with Bored Panda
Image credits: Save the Chimps
“When the veterinarians finally came over and said, ‘he’s fine, he’s obese, there are some minor things that need to be addressed, but he can go home today,’ there was not a dry eye in the house,” Peet recalled.
“It was such a massive relief. And we were so, so happy for him.”
Tonka was subsequently transported to the sanctuary, as Peet explained: “They said he was alert and really curious about all of the sites that he saw as they were on the trip to Florida, and was in really good spirits.”
The general counsel was able to travel to the Save the Chimps sanctuary the next day and saw Tonka get released for the first time.
“The first thing that he did was walk out and climb to the top of that enclosure and feel the sun on his body for the first time in months,” Peet revealed. “And even when it rained, the chimpanzees have the option to stay inside or to go inside, and most of them went inside, and he chose to just stay outside after having been cooped up in that basement for so long.”
Peet is a lawyer for PETA and was involved in Tonka’s rescue efforts
Image credits: Save the Chimps
Tonka will celebrate his 33rd birthday at the Fort Pierce sanctuary, which extends 150 acres (approximately 61 hectares) and is inhabited by 220 chimpanzees that live in 12 social groups on three-acre (approximately one-hectare) islands.
While Haddix’s lifestyle sparked controversy and animal cruelty accusations, she hopes to meet with the primate she considers her “kid” again.
“I would love to visit him but they won’t let me,” Haddix told Bored Panda. “I have a legal document that says I can with 14-day notice as long as I follow policies but they won’t let me.
“I can’t get an attorney to help me with this and it’s very sad for Tonka that he can’t see me.”
Chimp Crazy exposed the mistreatment of chimpanzees who retired from Hollywood and were subsequently sold as pets or sold in unethical zoos.
The docuseries touched on the MPF, which was started by Connie Braun Casey, and how she began with her pet shop in the 1960s that evolved into a chimp breeding and rental business called Chimparty.
Exotic-animal broker Tonia Haddix, who kidnapped Tonka, exclusively told Bored Panda that Chimp Crazy was “cheeky”
Image credits: chimpcrazylady
Casey sold baby chimps and rented them for events, while also running the nonprofit, which housed adult chimps retired from show business or previously sold as pets.
A 2001 incident involving a chimp named Suzy, who was shot after escaping, garnered negative publicity, and in 2016, PETA began investigating the facility for animal abuse, leading to the lawsuit.
“We noticed a trend in deteriorating conditions for the chimpanzees at the Missouri Primate Foundation,” Peet told Bored Panda. “Inspectors were noticing trash and pest infestations.”
She continued: “In one inspection, an inspector noted that the stench of urine in one of the chimpanzee areas was so strong that it burned her nostrils […], and she was just in there for a few seconds when the animals were living there 24/7.
“So that’s when we really started to amp up our efforts on behalf of these chimpanzees and authorities failed to act.”
In 2016, former MPF employee Angela Scott acted as a whistleblower and contacted PETA to express concerns about the alleged abuse she had witnessed at work.
There are still thousands of chimpanzees in the USA that have been purchased and are being kept as pets in private homes
Image credits: Save the Chimps
Scott subsequently secretly recorded footage – some of which was exposed in Chimp Crazy – and sent it to PETA, which in turn filed the lawsuit citing violations of the Endangered Species Act.
The footage showed adult chimpanzees locked in what appeared to be prison cells with minimum space to move.
“These animals are incredibly intelligent and complex and incredibly social,” Peet explained. “They live in large groups in the wild, and at the Missouri Primate Foundation, they had absolutely nothing to do.”
She added: “It drove them crazy, and so, chimpanzees were pulling out their hair and engaging in other self-mutilating behavior.”
While Haddix’s care for the primates raised many questions, she did conceive that the mistreatment of the animals was unethical.
“I thought it was very sad and I do hate it,” she told Bored Panda. “I do believe that it’s why the adult chimps get mad and become violent.”
Tonka lives among other rescue primates in Save the Chimps, a sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Florida
Image credits: Save the Chimps
Among a slew of horrific accidents related to the ownership of a chimpanzee, Chimp Crazy highlighted a 2009 incident that saw a primate named Travis nearly fatally attack Charla Nash, a friend of a woman who kept him as a “pet.”
The attack left Nash severely and permanently disfigured, and she required a face transplant after Travis ripped it out of her.
“They are initially treated like children and treated like a part of the family for years until they become too big or hit puberty, and then they are delegated to a cage and aren’t treated as they were anymore,” Haddix admitted.
She added: “They become humanized and want to be a part of the family and loved their whole life.
“That’s also why I have always worked to help the older ones rather than babies. I have always tried to help them.
“I tried to help Tonka. He had large enclosures outside but he wanted to be inside in the A/C with his family each time he had a choice.
“I would love to visit [Tonka] but they won’t let me,” Haddix told Bored Panda
Image credits: Save the Chimps
“He was not in a cage when the film crew wasn’t there. He was very kind. I didn’t want him to have to work or raise money. I wanted him to just get to relax and be loved.”
According to Peet, Missouri is one of the worst states for animal welfare issues in the US, but there are a lot of places in the US where facilities like MPF can operate.
“It’s because our authorities aren’t enforcing the laws that we currently have on the books, and we also need stronger laws to protect these animals, and so unfortunately, it ends up falling to organizations like PETA to step in and advocate for these animals,” the lawyer said.
Chimpanzees can be sold as pets for around $65,000, Chimp Crazy showed, despite the act of selling the wild animal being illegal because they are listed as an endangered species under the US Endangered Species Act.
“That said, there has long been a black market for endangered species in the United States that our federal authorities aren’t cracking down on,” Peet revealed.
The lack of regulations being implemented to protect such animals was an issue that Chimp Crazy consistently pointed out.
Tonka will celebrate his 33rd birthday at the Fort Pierce sanctuary
Image credits: Save the Chimps
“The fact that Tonia Haddix is still legally allowed to [be an exotic animal broker] and to run a roadside zoo in the United States underscores just how broken our regulatory system for wild animals in captivity in this country is,” Peet argued.
“She committed a federal crime by lying under oath and violating multiple court orders, including by kidnapping an endangered chimpanzee, trafficking him over state lines and then ultimately confining him in a tiny cage in her basement, all to satisfy her own ego,” she said.
“And the US Department of Agriculture must, without delay, terminate the license that allows her to continue to engage in these activities.”
Haddix still appears to raise exotic animals at or near her home in Sunrise Beach and brokering monkeys to “their forever homes,” in addition to operating the Sunrise Beach Safari near the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri.
Nevertheless, according to Haddix, she should be allowed to handle such animals as she believes Chimp Crazy misconstrued facts.
“I thought [Chimp Crazy] was very cheeky and non-factual,” Haddix told Bored Panda. “They spun a narrative in order to create more controversy so they could shock viewers.”
The sanctuary extends 150 acres (approximately 61 hectares) and is inhabited by 220 chimpanzees
Image credits: Save the Chimps
She concluded: “The docuseries painted a certain version of the story and they did a lot of questionable things to do so.
“I would like to get my story out there so people can understand what really happened and how many things were altered and falsified.”
In a follow-up email, Haddix accused the documentarists of keeping photos from her phone. Additionally, she said that she had never been attacked by a chimpanzee but rather a baboon.
Finally, Haddix claimed that the fast food fed to the primates as shown in the docuseries had been brought by the film crew for a “special treat,” rather than constituting the animals’ “actual diet.”
According to Peet, acquiring a license to operate a wild animal business like Haddix’s is ridiculously easy: “All you have to do is fill out a form and write a check for a couple of hundred dollars depending on how many animals that you want to exhibit, and you’re in business.”
As proven by the footage shown in Chimp Crazy, Haddix lied to a federal judge about Tonka, however, she currently remains free of any charges or prosecutions.
“These animals are incredibly intelligent and complex,” Peet told Bored Panda
Image credits: Save the Chimps
“The question of how Tonia Haddix is not in jail and hasn’t been prosecuted for perjury is one that so many people are asking, and we are also asking that question,” Peet admitted.
Upon Tonka’s rescue efforts, PETA sent a follow-up to the federal investigator involved in the case and is still awaiting answers.
“It does show other people who testify in federal court that there’s no incentive to tell the truth because there won’t be any consequences if they don’t,” Peet said.
PETA is currently hoping to capitalize on the momentum of Chimp Crazy to push for the passage of the Captive Primate Safety Act in the US, which would prohibit the private ownership of all primates, including chimpanzees.
Peet, a self-proclaimed animal lover – and who took part in the interview alongside her three-legged Labrador x German Sheppard rescue mix Leonard – concluded: “I would just encourage everyone in the United States who was moved by Chimp Crazy and who cares about these animals to simply never buy a ticket to a roadside Zoo.
“That is the quickest way that we can put an end to this industry and help the animals who are in it.”
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