MISSOURI, USA — "Chimp Crazy will have viewers going bananas even when they have to watch through their fingers," Rotten Tomatoes' critics consensus reads on the new HBO documentary of the same name.
Missouri residents who witnessed the documentary's actual events in Festus were definitely watching through their fingers, but weren't "bananas" about the situation.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Animal actor Tonka the Chimp rescued from Missouri basement, taken to Florida for treatment
The documentary's main subject, Tonia Haddix, took over legal ownership of Festus' Missouri Primate Foundation, formerly known as Chimparty, in 2018 after the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a lawsuit against the former owner for providing unfit living conditions for chimpanzees, according to Leader Publications, Jefferson County's only weekly newspaper. The business previously provided chimps for parties, television ads and movies, but Haddix converted it into a sanctuary.
The monkey business continued after a chimpanzee escaped the facility in 2020 and got loose on Highway CC, The Leader reported. A similar ape escape was repeated less than a month later, this time involving two chimps that injured a worker and escaped to a neighboring property.
The escapes intensified PETA's legal actions against the facility, this time targeted at Haddix. A federal judge ruled Haddix was in contempt of court after violating an agreement with PETA by not transferring four chimps to a sanctuary in Florida and not creating suitable habitats for three other chimps, one of which was named Tonka.
Haddix would go on to lose the legal battle, and the chimps, in 2021 after failing to comply with court orders, The Leader reported. Jefferson County Sheriff's Office deputies were stationed outside the sanctuary to control traffic and keep Haddix from interfering with the transfer process due to previous statements she made saying she would disrupt it.
However, only six of the facility's seven chimps ended up being transferred from the facility. Haddix claimed one of the facility's chimps, named Tonka, died months earlier from congestive heart failure. Officials ordered Haddix to show proof of the 38-year-old chimp's death, but she did not produce proof at the time of the transfer. PETA vowed to make sure she wasn't trying to hide Tonka.
Nearly six months after the chimp transfer, a judge ruled Haddix was unable to prove Tonka had died and allowed PETA to file a new lawsuit to force Tonka's transfer to Florida if the chimp was found alive, The Leader reported. A month later, PETA offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who could help locate Tonka or confirm his death, a reward that was soon matched by actor and former Tonka co-star Alan Cumming.
Tonka was eventually found in Haddix's basement around five months after the new lawsuit was filed, The Leader reported. PETA reportedly obtained an audio recording of a telephone call that suggested Haddix has been hiding Tonka on a 20-acre property in Sunrise Beach near the Lake of the Ozarks. PETA quickly obtained a restraining order for June 1 because the phone call also suggested Haddix was going to euthanize Tonka on June 2.
“After months of searching, Tonka has finally been found and help is on the way,” PETA lawyer Jared Goodman told The Leader. “He has endured nearly a year of isolation and likely needs urgent care, but if all goes well, PETA will soon arrange for him to be moved to a lush sanctuary where he’ll have a chance for a real life at last.”
