Former sloth operator Tonia Haddix, whose Festus, Missouri, facility was a breeding source for the illegal primate trade, is sentenced to 46 months. She lied about the death of Tonka, a star movie chimp featured in HBO’s Chimp Crazy. On Thursday, Haddix entered guilty pleas to two counts of perjury. She was charged with one count of obstructing justice, which resulted in her conviction.
Haddix’s legal woes started when she made a series of false statements, including her insistence that Tonka was dead and she’d had his body cremated. As she explained in 2022 to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, she pleaded guilty to lying about taking Tonka to keep him safe from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Right investigators found a second chimp confined to the basement of a house in Sunrise Beach. This finding contravened prior court orders related to the care and keeping of her animals.
Haddix agreed to a consent decree in 2020, court records indicated. This settlement obliged him to move four of the chimpanzees to a Florida-based chimpanzee sanctuary. In 2021, authorities seized most of the chimps from her facility, and Tonka was the only one left under her care. Further, she even testified that she is the cause of Tonka’s death. On the stand throughout trial, she confessed that “Tonka was literally on the run with me.”
Haddix’s case became infamous in part because of the theatrical details that led to her euthanizing the animals. PETA intervened and seized Tonka from her custody in 2022 after finding him essentially living in a coffin-sized cage at her home. The organization pointed to accusations related to Haddix’s compliance with legal settlements and animal welfare regulations.
During the sentencing hearing, Haddix’s attorney, Justin Gelfand, made a fiery case for mercy. He stretched the truth on her troubled upbringing, featuring childhood sexual abuse and volatile marriages. As he brought her case to the court, he pleaded for comprehension.
“I wanted to keep trying to save Tonka if I could. But then he just died on his own, so there was no saving him.” – Tonia Haddix
Along with her prison term, Haddix will be required to serve three years of supervised release after her release from prison. This lawsuit sheds light on the ongoing issue of ineffective care and treatment of exotic animals in private facilities. It’s an indictment of the duties owed by those who own and care for these complex creatures.