The new HBO documentary Chimp Crazy, from the same team that brought Tiger King to Netflix, tells the shocking story of Tonia Haddix, a former nurse-turned-exotic animal broker in the United States, who specalises in chimpanzees.
Haddix, who refers to herself as the “Dolly Parton of chimps”, is one of several so-called “chimp moms” featured in the four-part documentary, available on NOW in the UK, but it’s her particular actions that become the focus of the series.
The 55-year-old runs the Missouri Primate Foundation, which she took over from chimp breeder Connie Casey in 2018, where she claims to have raised and cared for at least seven primates, with one chimp Tonka, being her favourite.
Speaking in the show, Haddix says: “Tonka and I just found each other. It was meant to be. It was just natural. And Tonka loved me as much as I loved Tonka.”
Haddix’s sanctuary became a target for the animal rights group PETA, who raised lawsuits and raided her property to retrieve the animals and take them to safe conditions. However, trouble arose when PETA were unable to find Tonka, who Haddix claims died in 2021.
The animal was a former Hollywood performer who featured in two movies, George of the Jungle with Brendan Fraser and Buddy with Alan Cumming, the latter of whom is a talking head in the documentary and a campaigner for PETA.
Warning: The rest of this article does contain spoilers for Chimp Crazy.
Who is Tonia Haddix?
According to her Cameo profile, Haddix is 55 years old and is originally from Ozark, Missouri but now resides in Sunrise Beach, where she runs a petting zoo. She married Jerry Aswegan, who is also involved in animals and runs a mobile petting zoo, in 2021. She also has two children, Justin and Erica Range. Haddix has a penchant for cosmetic “tweakments”, and throughout Chimp Crazy, we see her getting several procedures done.
Haddix took over the Missouri Primate Foundation from Connie Casey, who bought her first chimp in 1972, after initially setting up the sanctuary in the 1960s. Casey also ran a business called “Chimparty”, which rented out monkeys for private events, birthday parties and film and TV productions. Several of the chimps who came from the sanctuary had committed violent acts, including one named Travis who made headlines in 2009, after mauling and severely disfiguring his owner.
Haddix began working at the facility in 2016 before taking over in 2018, where she became the chimpanzees’ legal owner. She lived in a trailer on the property while caring for the seven chimpanzees. Speaking to Fox 2, she said: “I stepped up and was willing to come out there and provide that care and provide the financial support to these chimpanzees so that they could remain at the only home that they know.”
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During her time running the sanctuary, Haddix grew a close attachment to Tonka, who she told Rolling Stone she “loved like a son”. In the documentary, her son Justin says: “I’ve never seen her that passionate about anything in my entire life. Ever. And that includes her own son.”
After a whistleblower who worked at the sanctuary raised concerns about the conditions the chimps were being kept in, PETA raised a lawsuit against Haddix and succeeded in taking six of the seven animals into custody and transferring them to a certified sanctuary, following a judge’s order.
This was after Haddix was found in contempt of court for violating an agreement, where she had promised to upgrade the living conditions for the chimps in the facility and failed to do so.
However, when PETA, along with US marshals, arrived on the property in July 2021 to carry out the order, they discovered that Tonka had vanished.
While the other six primates were taken away, Haddix claimed that Tonka had died, later saying that he had passed away from a massive stroke. A court affidavit was also signed stating that Tonka had been cremated. In the documentary, Haddix produces what she claims are Tonka’s ashes, which are swiftly proven to not be real by a cremation expert.
A judge initially decides that although Haddix’s testimony is not trustworthy, they also cannot prove that Tonka is still alive. This leads to Haddix revealing to the cameras that Tonka is indeed still alive and living in her basement in Sunset Beach, where he watches TV but has little interaction with humans.
Haddix told the St Louis Post-Dispatch in March 2023 that she did this so Tonka “would die peacefully and with people who loved him. I did it for that chimp”.
PETA was eventually tipped off about Tonka’s whereabouts in June 2022 after a phone call between Haddix and proxy director Dwayne Cunningham was leaked to them. This leads to Tonka’s rescue from Haddix’s basement.
What happened to Tonka?
Tonka was transferred to the Save the Chimp’s sanctuary in Florida, where experts claimed that Tonka was not close to death, despite Haddix’s claims.
A vet at the facility wrote: “While Tonka needs dental work and is substantially overweight, the examination did not show signs of congestive heart failure. He shows no need for the heavy doses of medications that she was reportedly giving him or the euthanasia she was reportedly considering, and his health is likely to improve with the appropriate diet and exercise that he’s now enjoying at the sanctuary, where he regularly climbs to the top of his two-storey enclosure to bask in the sun.”
As of September 2024, Tonka’s rehabilitation to living with other chimps has been deemed successful with the Los Angeles Times reporting that he enjoys “vegan meals, painting and lots of sex”.
What happened to Tonia Haddix?
In March 2023, Haddix was ordered to pay $225,000 in legal fees to PETA, with the organisation arguing that by faking the death of Tonka, she had caused them to bill attorneys for hundreds of hours of extra work.
In 2022, she told Rolling Stone: “I have paid $50 a day [in fines]. I’ve been through the mill. I’m sure that there’ll be some jail time in this. Do I care? No, I don’t care. It’s because it’s about that kid. As long as that kid is safe, I don’t care about nothing out there.”
People reports that as of 2023, Haddix and her husband have continued to act as brokers in the buying and selling of chimps from their home in Sunset Beach and have also opened a zoo called Sunrise Beach Safari.
What charges is Haddix facing?
Aside from the PETA fine, Haddix has not been convicted of any crimes at the time of writing. As of September 2024, reports suggest that PETA is now urging a judge to bring perjury charges against Haddix.
The Los Angeles Times reports that PETA’s General Counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement, Brittany Peet, has written a letter to the assistant US attorney requesting that a criminal investigation into Haddix and Aswegan is launched.
In the letter, Peet says that the attorney’s office “has thus far declined to move forward with charges against Haddix because you felt you lacked sufficient evidence to prove that the chimpanzee who was removed from Haddix’s home on June 5, 2022 was actually Tonka”.
After describing the scene in the documentary, which Peet describes as “incontrovertible proof” that Tonka is still alive, Peet adds that “it is even more urgent to proceed with charges now that Haddix’s blatant and unrepentant perjury and obstruction is about to be broadcast to a national audience”.
If convicted, Haddix could face up to five years in prison on perjury charges.
PETA is also reportedly pushing for Haddix’s Animal Welfare Act license, which allows her to run her new petting zoo, to be revoked by the US Department of Agriculture.
In addition, if Haddix’s treatment of her chimps is deemed to have violated the Endangered Species Act, the US Fish & Wildlife Service could bring a case against her to the Department of Justice. If she is found guilty she could be fined $50,000 and face a year in prison.
Why does the show have a proxy director?
The series is made by Eric Goode, who produced Tiger King for Netflix. However, due to the success of that show, members of the exotic animal community are now reluctant to talk to him. This forced the production to use former animal trainer and circus clown, Dwayne Cunningham, as a proxy director instead.
Haddix was furious after discovering that Goode was involved in the documentary, but by the series conclusion, she has come to terms with what happened and invites the crew back to film at her new petting zoo.
Explaining why she let the documentary happen, Haddix told Rolling Stone: “I’m beating myself up because if I put Tonka in jeopardy just because I was doing a documentary thinking it was going to be for the betterment of private ownership, then look at what I did.”