ST. LOUIS — The former caretaker of movie star chimpanzee Tonka allowed a crew to film her disobeying a court order — by saying she sedated the animal and pretended he was dead — in a new documentary called “Chimp Crazy,” animal rights lawyers alleged Wednesday.

Tonia Haddix, who dubbed herself “the Dolly Parton of chimps,” said in the show that she sedated Tonka and hid him at a Holiday Inn instead of turning him over to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, as ordered by the court, according to a legal filing.

“I opted to go against the court order,” Haddix said in the third episode of the series, the filing says. “Tonka was literally on the run with me.”

“Chimp Crazy” appears on HBO and has garnered more than 2.3 million views.

In light of the new evidence, PETA says, Haddix and alleged accomplices should be required to show they didn’t violate previous court orders.

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The Haddix legal saga dates back to 2016, when PETA sued her and claimed Tonka — who appeared alongside actor Alan Cumming in the 1997 movie “Buddy” — and other chimps at the now-defunct Missouri Primate Foundation near Festus were improperly cared for.

In 2020, Haddix signed a consent decree agreeing to send four of the chimps to a sanctuary in Florida. The order allowed her to keep three chimps, including Tonka.

But Haddix failed to comply with the conditions, PETA said. A year later, sheriff’s deputies and U.S. marshals removed the remaining chimps. Haddix claimed at the time that Tonka was no longer there because he had died of congestive heart failure, and her husband signed an affidavit saying he cremated the body.

Tonka eventually was taken to the Save the Chimps Sanctuary in Florida, and a federal judge ordered Haddix to pay $224,404.24 in attorneys fees to PETA. In addition, Judge Catherine Perry was going to rule on whether Haddix violated court orders, which could result in fines or jail time. But Perry delayed the decision while federal prosecutors launched an investigation.

Tonka the chimpanzee roams his surroundings at the Save the Chimps sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Fla.

This week, PETA argued that Haddix, her husband and a friend who kept Tonka at one point at an Ohio animal sanctuary all admitted to violating court orders in the documentary.

The filing says Haddix has made a “spectacle of her disobedience” by selling merchandise, making a Cameo account delivering personalized videos and appearing on multiple podcasts. She was even parodied on “Saturday Night Live,” according to the filing.

“Tonia Haddix brazenly defied court orders on camera and made a mockery of the justice system in front of an international audience in order to deprive a chimpanzee of a real life,” said PETA general counsel Brittany Peet.

Haddix's lawyer, Justin Gelfand, said Wednesday they were "evaluating the latest motion by PETA and intend to respond accordingly.”

Editor's note: This story has been updated with a statement from Haddix's lawyers.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographers captured September 2024 in hundreds of images. Here are just some of those photos. Edited by Jenna Jones.

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