Who Is Tonia Haddix? All About the Animal Dealer Featured in ‘Chimp Crazy’ [Video]

Tonia Haddix made a name for herself as the controversial self-titled “Dolly Parton of Chimps.”

The former nurse turned exotic animal owner is the subject of the 2024 HBO documentary, Chimp Crazy, produced and directed by filmmaker Eric Goode of Tiger King fame.

Though she has owned many varieties of exotic animals, the core focus of Chimp Crazy is her chimpanzees, as well as other “chimp moms,” per HBO’s press release. Haddix has said she raised seven monkeys at the Missouri Primate Foundation (previously known as Chimparty) and her Sunrise Beach home, taking over ownership of the animals from owner Connie Casey in the late 2010s.

The best-known of these chimpanzees is Tonka, a retired Hollywood star. Haddix had a fixation on the primate, who most famously appeared in two 1997 films, Buddy with Alan Cumming and George of the Jungle, starring Brendan Fraser and Leslie Mann. Tonka — whom Haddix described as “the love of my …