A long-running case between the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and exotic animal broker Tonia Haddix has taken another bizarre turn.
If you cast your mind back to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was obsessed with Tiger King and the various movers and shakers like Joe “Tiger King”, Carole Baskin, and Doc Antle.
The hit Netflix series broke viewership records, and since then, there’s been a boom in interest in the exotic animal trade. After producing Tiger King, the Emmy-nominated Eric Goode turned his attention to Haddix for Chimp Crazy. Refering to herself as the ‘Dolly Parton of chimps’, the four-part documentary followed Haddix after she took over as the head of the Missouri Primate Foundation.
The facility was already embroiled in a lawsuit with PETA over allegations of animal welfare abuses, but things got even more dramatic due to her relationship with a chimp called Tonka.
A court order deemed that the chimps needed to be handed over to a sanctuary, but when PETA couldn’t find Tonka when searching Haddix’s home, she claimed he’d died and his body had been cremated. There was a shocking reveal at the end of the second episode that confirmed Haddix had been hiding the alive Tonka.
Unfortunately for Haddix, her newfound fame has led to her slipping on a banana skin.
NBC News reports on how Haddix was arrested in the aftermath of Chimp Crazy. A judge had ordered her to pay PETA nearly $225,000 for incurred costs and legal fees, but after Haddix and her husband failed to pay the amount, their arrest was ordered for contempt of court.
She was then released from Camden County jail on July 20.
Tonka had vanished under Haddix’s care in 2021, and despite her emotional January 2022 virtual court testimony about Tonka’s ‘death’, she later gloated about tricking the courts during Chimp Crazy. PETA then used this in its case against the exotic animal broker.
Tonia Haddix, the legally troubled star of the HBO docuseries “Chimp Crazy,” accepts responsibility after being accused of hiding apes in her home in violation of federal court orders.
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— NewsNation (@NewsNation) July 27, 2025
NBC News explains how an unnamed female chimp was found inside a cage in Haddix’s basement, with the cage apparently previously being used for Tonka.
Prosecutors argued that her keeping another chimp in her basement was ‘a clear violation’ of her civil case with PETA.
A filed memorandum states: “While at the time of this writing the Court has not yet made a finding relative to Defendant’s violations of her conditions of release, it is the position of the United States that by possessing and concealing another chimpanzee in the basement of her residence.
“Despite this Court’s orders and warnings, Defendant has shown no remorse for her criminal conduct, and has continued to challenge and defy this Court’s authority, and she should face a significant punishment as a result.”
PETA posted a statement reiterating that Haddix “can’t keep dodging the court’s orders to pay back the money she owes,” adding: “PETA trusts this jail time will be just a taste of the longer sentence she’ll face next month.”
As for Tonka, he was successfully seized by federal marshals and transferred to the Save the Chimps nonprofit sanctuary.
Featured Image Credit: HBO