Tonia Haddix Felt Like Tonka the Chimp Was Her Son — What Happened Next Was Shocking

Tonka the chimp is a star and can count actor Alan Cumming among some of his most famous friends. Cumming and Tonka starred in the 1997 film Buddy, and it was on that set that the two grew very close. "By the end of the shoot, his trainers let him groom me," Cumming told IndieWire in 2017. "It was a special friendship — one I’ll always treasure."

Sadly, Cumming didn't see Tonka at the film's premiere and was told he wasn't manageable anymore and had instead been "retired to Palm Springs." The actor said he often pictured Tonka "living out his post-Hollywood years on a sprawling sanctuary." Unfortunately that's not what happened. In fact, the truth of Tonka's later years is stranger than fiction, but true enough for a Max documentary titled Chimp Crazy. So, where is Tonka the chimp now? He finally found peace.

Although Tonka didn't immediately retire to a fabulous sanctuary, he eventually made his way to one. After starring in both Buddy and George of the Jungle, Tonka was ready for a slower life. He ended up at the now-inoperative Missouri Primate Foundation, which, as Vanity Fair reported, was shut down by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). It turns out they were in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

When Cumming found out about this, he was horrified. The foundation was located in Festus, Mo., and provided barely livable conditions for Tonka and the other chimpanzees who would eventually be rescued from this horrible place. The cages were small and filthy, which earned the owners "multiple citations for violating federal animal-welfare regulations."

Cumming told IndieWire that Tonka wasn't "able to have complex social relationships with other chimpanzees and doesn’t have meaningful outdoor access to run, climb, or play." It was the actor's hope that Tonka and the other chimpanzees would be "sent to accredited sanctuaries where they can enjoy some semblance of the life that nature intended for them." The good news is, they were!

Tonka ended up going to Save the Chimps, where the website describes a lovely life for the former actor. Not only does he have a bedroom to hang out in, but Tonka has access to a large backyard he can play in anytime. After a brief quarantine for health and acclimation reasons, Tonka met what would become his new family. He now lives with and loves 17 other chimps, and "cherishes the diverse friendships and personalities within his group."

Tonia Haddix is being dubbed the Tiger King of chimps, and it's just as upsetting. According to the New York Post, Haddix worked at the Missouri Primate Foundation and was there in 2020 when PETA accused them of mistreating the seven animals who lived at the sanctuary. She agreed to send four chimps to a different sanctuary, and was able to keep three through a consent decree. Tonka was one of them.

Haddix maintained that the animals were well taken care of, but failed to make the changes laid out in the decree. In 2021, with the help of local authorities and U.S. Marshalls, PETA removed the remaining animals. However, Haddix told them Tonka had passed away due to heart failure. She and her husband signed a court affidavit stating that Tonka died and that they'd cremated his body. Here's the twist: Tonka didn't die.

A recorded phone call leaked to PETA revealed that Tonka was very much alive, and was living in her finished basement. Apparently she told authorities that she kept Tonka so he "would die peacefully and with people who loved him. I did it for that chimp.” PETA had previously filed a lawsuit against Haddix. Because she lied under oath, Haddix was ordered to "pay more than $220,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs to PETA to end the lawsuit," per Fox 2 Now.