In March 2020, a captive global audience of Netflix subscribers was introduced to Joe Exotic and his rival Carole Baskin through the seven-episode docuseries “Tiger King,” detailing the life of eccentric zookeeper Joseph Allen Maldonado. Now, the director and executive producer of that series, Eric Goode, has turned his lens to yet another case of animal exploitation in America with “Chimp Crazy,” a four-part documentary series premiering Sunday, Aug. 18, on HBO and the Max streaming service.
“Chimp Crazy” follows Tonia Haddix, a Missouri-based exotic animal broker who calls herself the “Dolly Parton of chimps,” as she became the subject of news headlines when her ability to care for animals in captivity was called into question.
As described by HBO, the story is “at turns hilarious and tragic, while unfolding with the pace and suspense of a thriller.
“’Chimp Crazy’ explores the captivating, often unfathomable, and secretive world of raising chimpanzees and also examines the colorful and complicated cast of characters that inhabit it,” the synopsis continues.
In an official trailer for the series, Haddix speaks to the camera in an almost surreal-looking, monochromatic baby pink children’s room between two bunk beds with matching stuffed bears seated on them.
Her tracksuit blends into the wall color behind her as she says, “Tonka loved me as much as I loved Tonka.” Tonka being her favorite “kid,” as she calls the chimpanzees in her care. She had a special connection to the 32-year-old retired Hollywood chimp who can be seen in two 1997 feature films: “George of the Jungle” and “Buddy.”
Haddix’s misplaced enthusiasm for exotic animals twisted into serious criminal behavior when her home conditions were declared unfit for keeping chimps in captivity. A desperate desire to keep Tonka no matter the personal cost resulted in more legal battles.
While some states allow residents to keep exotic animals as pets with restrictions and regulations — Missouri has relatively permissible exotic pet ownership laws — it is often to the detriment of the animal’s quality of life. Chimpanzees are intelligent, sociable animals, and living in captivity that does not suit their needs can make them a danger.
“Chimp Crazy” details not just Haddix’s case of animal endangerment but similar past events in the United States that have proved how damaging exotic pet ownership in general, and keeping chimpanzees in inadequate home enclosures specifically, can be.
In June 2021, seven chimpanzees in Haddix’s care were ordered by a judge to be removed from her home and sent to the Center for Great Apes, a sanctuary several states away in Florida. However, shortly after the ruling, Haddix claimed that Tonka had died of heart failure the previous month. The six other chimps made themselves at home in the Sunshine State, but the animal rights organization PETA wasn’t buying Haddix’s claim about Tonka.
In truth, Tonka was healthy, alive and hidden. Haddix had stolen Tonka away to a friend’s house for months while the other chimps were seized, coming back for him once the coast was clear. She kept him in her basement, where he interacted with Haddix and some of her trusted friends but was mostly entertained by screens in his brightly colored indoor enclosure.
Most Popular
Comments / 0