Tonia Haddix, the woman in the center of the HBO documentary series nominated at the Emmy Emmy, “Chimp Crazy”, was sentenced to 46 months in prison after simulating the death of a chimpanzee to avoid putting it back to the authorities as ordered.
She pleaded guilty to two perjury charges and a charge of obstruction of justice.
“Chimp Crazy”, which was broadcast for four episodes on HBO from August 2024, was produced by Eric Goode, one of the directors of the Covid Estation of Netflix “Tiger King”. The series follows Haddix, who lied to the organization of peta animal rights and to the legal authorities on the location of a chimpanzee, Tonka.
“Chimp Crazy” presents the property of Haddix to the Missouri Primate Foundation, an installation in Festus, Missouri, less than an hour outside St. Louis. The MPF, in the middle of a trial with Peta for the alleged abuse of the chimpanzees, was ordered to put the animals back to an animal sanctuary.
Haddix, who had previously trained a strong link with Tonka, told the Peta authorities and officials that the chimpanzee was dead and was cremated. This was discovered later so as not to be the case, Haddix hosting his beloved chimpanzee in his basement.
“Chimp Crazy” has become both a critical and commercial success, obtaining the highest number of HBO docusery viewers since “McMillions” of 2020. The show was nominated twice to the EMMYS 2025: once for the edition of exceptional images for a non-fiction program and once for an exceptional writing for a non-fiction program.
Haddix was sentenced to 46 months by the United States District Court for the Missouri Oriental District in Saint-Louis after his guilty pleas. The penalty is delivered with a three -year supervised release.
“Now that Tonia Haddix has been locked up, she has a taste of the sufferings she has imposed on animals by imprisoning them in cages and refusing them all semblance of a natural life,” said British Peet, general lawyer of the PETA Foundation, for the forces of animal law in captivity. Peet was present for the conviction of Haddix. “Peta is relieved to see justice rendered and urges everyone to support the Primate Safety Act captive, which will keep the monkeys and vulnerable monkeys outside the pet trade and the hands of ruthless dealers like Haddix.”
Haddix would have been arrested again at the end of July for violating an agreement with Peta by keeping another chimpanzee in his basement.
