'Chimp Crazy' Star Sentenced For Lying About Movie Star Primate's Death
HuffPost
Tonia Haddix, star of the HBO documentary series “Chimp Crazy,” has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison after she lied about that Tonka the chimp had died.
A Missouri woman who starred in the HBO documentary series “Chimp Crazy” has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison after she lied that a movie star primate that she was accused of mistreating had died.
Tonia Haddix, 56, was also ordered Thursday to serve three years of supervised release after her 46-month prison sentence ends.
Haddix, who ran a primate facility the St. Louis suburb of Festus, pleaded guilty in March to two counts of perjury and one of obstructing justice.
It all started nearly a decade ago, when the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sued, saying she was keeping several chimps in “confined in cramped, virtually barren enclosures” at the now-defunct Missouri Primate Foundation facility.
Among the chimps was Tonka, who appeared in the 1997 movies “Buddy” and “George of the Jungle.” Actor Alan Cumming, the British-born actor who starred in the movie “Buddy” alongside Tonka, also begged for the primate to be moved.
