You may have seen that Tonia Haddix, the main subject of the documentary Chimp Crazy, was in the news again recently.
Even if you didn’t watch the HBO series, you may have heard about Tonia testifying under oath that Tonka, a chimpanzee in her care, had died and she had helped cremate his body. In dramatic fashion, the filmmakers of Chimp Crazy reveal that Tonka was actually being held in the basement of Tonia’s home.
Thankfully, Tonka is now living in a social group at Save the Chimps sanctuary in Florida, where many of the children and siblings of the chimpanzees at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest also live.
According to records from PETA, there’s a good chance that newly rescued George is Tonka’s half-brother!
But that’s not why I’m writing this.
Incredibly, the reason that Tonia is in the news again is because she was found to be hiding another missing chimpanzee in her home. I really wish all of this was a made up story. But it’s not.
Tonia Haddix is clearly a very disturbed individual. And yet, she was able to be responsible for the lives of multiple chimpanzees and held a license for years to display, buy, sell, and transport primates and other animals, even after the Chimp Crazy documentary aired. Many of the primates she was “brokering”, as seen in the documentary and more recently on Tonia’s social media profiles (which I don’t suggest you visit because it will only increase their reach and her celebrity), are very young infants. Removing infant primates from their mothers to sell to private owners is something that is still legal to do.
I’m glad that there are now serious charges against her, but her story and profession points to a lack of oversight, a need for better laws and better and quicker enforcement of existing (rather weak) animal welfare regulations.
Which brings me to why I am writing this.
We are re-launching our advocacy program, Primate Patrol, and we want you to be a part of it.
Please check out this short survey to let me know if you are interested in being a part of Primate Patrol and advocating for primates.
And if you want to deep-dive into Chimp Crazy, Andy Gray of the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance and I co-hosted discussions via zoom after each episode of Chimp Crazy aired. The four videos are still available to view on our YouTube channel.
