Chimp Crazy (2024) s01e04 Episode Script

1
Okay, I'm ready.
Tonka always makes me feel safe.
If he's around,
nobody's gonna ever hurt me, ever.
His eyes are so soft and so loving.
That's Tonka's soul, that's his spirit.
He's just a very kind and loving person.
Everybody gets mad,
especially, like, my husband,
because he thinks I should
put him before Tonka.
But there's no way that Jerry
is as loyal as Tonka is to me.
Tonka is it.
Police department. Please open up.
Fuck.
- Hello?
- You alright?
- Did you hear me?
- Damn, yeah, I heard you.
Alright, I'm gonna make my way your way.
You're not in custody, are you?
You're crazy.
You are a crazy girl, you.
Apparently, the entire 30 minutes
of the phone call with Tonia
is public record.
It's not sealed.
The question is, where does that leave us?
Yeah.
100%, she's gonna know,
whether she knows now or later.
Did you get any sense that she
No, she didn't sound suspicious.
Yeah.
Yeah. But nothing is happening today.
They can't move Tonka
until the vet comes and everything.
You're rolling.
We're good?
What do you think?
What do you think?
Thanks for your help.
- Good luck, Dwayne.
- Alright.
I can see the U.S. Marshal camped out
at the end of the driveway in an SUV.
- Whatchamacallit.
- Hey, man.
Oh, God.
Yeah.
Well, you hair looks great.
Wait, are they gonna put you on the cover
of the "Rolling Stone"?
You kids are too young to remember.
If you were a rock star,
to get your picture
on the cover of the "Rolling Stone"
was like getting your picture
on the cover of "Time" magazine.
You don't know?
But then what, Ton?
I mean, you don't wanna be on the run.
You'd be on "America's Most Wanted".
And PETA would love it.
It's time for it to end, don't you think?
Just enjoy what's left.
There's Jared Goodman right there.
Little weasel prick.
He better fuckin' stay away.
This is how stressed out they make him.
And he literally has gone ape.
And they think this is not
harming and harassing
a chimp that is ill?
They're getting ready to dart him.
He's in the room next to me.
And as you can tell,
he's raising nine kinds of hell.
Here is all their equipment
with their little shit police department.
When we stepped foot
on Tonia Haddix's property,
we didn't know if we were going to
walk out with Tonka alive,
or if he would come out in a body bag.
Two veterinarians sedated Tonka.
Because the basement was so dark,
they couldn't actually do the exam there.
So, they ran an EKG
and did a general physical exam
on Tonia's patio.
Thankfully, the vets made the call that,
that he could go.
And then, they were on their way.
A Hollywood animal star has finally
been rescued after a year-long search.
Tonka, a 38-year-old chimp
who starred in the movies "Buddy"
and "George of the Jungle", among others,
whose owner hid him
after allegedly claiming he was dead.
They only found out
Tonka's true whereabouts
when Haddix told someone on the phone,
outlining plans to euthanize him.
Haddix told Fox-2 today
she's unable to talk on camera,
but she messaged, quote,
"If the judicial system was just,
he never would've left
the only home he's ever known."
The sprawling property
became a crime scene
after Travis the chimp
went on a wild rampage.
Send the police!
What's the problem there?
He's killing my friend!
The chimp's owner, Sandy Herold,
says Travis was a loving pet.
It's just been hell, it's
There's no way to explain it
any different.
After the loss of Travis,
a lot of people had their own
opinions about Sandy.
How could anyone think that's a good idea,
to try and domesticate a 200-pound chimp?
This was a brutal attack by a wild animal.
I don't care if he was a celebrity.
People were saying horrible things.
I cooked for him, I shopped for him,
I lived with him, I slept with him.
"Oh, she was having sex with that chimp!"
One person took the narrative,
and it makes a good story, right?
It was all over the world.
Sandy had to, like, go into hiding.
All of a sudden, she's the mother
that, you know, may have contributed
to this horrible thing that
happened to Charla Nash.
Charla Nash is at Ohio's Cleveland Clinic
as she recovers from the massive injuries
she suffered in the February attack.
Happy birthday
To you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday, dear Charla,
happy birthday to you
Thank you.
Did you see the Oprah Winfrey interview?
Yeah, it was horrible.
You know, many people around the world
want to get a picture of you.
Would you mind lifting the veil?
Once I saw Charla unveil her face,
I could no longer watch it,
it was heartbreaking.
For the next several months,
Sandy was almost inconsolable.
Come on, Travis,
do like at home on the bed.
Here.
Her husband had passed.
Get up.
This is my husband's rest day.
Travis was the nail in the coffin.
Her entire family's gone now.
She felt as though she had no purpose.
She kept everything intact
as if Travis was still alive.
The Elmo doll that he loved very much,
all his pictures on the frigerator.
It was almost like it was frozen in time,
as if it was a memorial,
just waiting for Travis to come home.
Even the blood was still there.
It set into the plywood.
She never removed it.
After what you've been through with this,
do you still think chimps should be pets?
Would I have done it again? Yes.
It was horrific what happened,
but I'll miss him for the rest of my life.
This is Travis. He's gonna take a bath.
She really could not
accept that Travis was gone.
That led her to seek out a medium
with hopes of being able
to still communicate
with Trav in some way.
Poor Sandy.
She was really lonely,
you know, for chimps.
Sandy kept coming to visit,
no matter where we were,
all over the country.
She showed up all over the place:
At fairs, at rodeos, at circus.
Thank you very much.
She missed her own chimp,
so she tracked us down.
Chance, can you speak?
"I'm a chimpanzee,
and I'm a Pam troglodyte."
Ready? "Pam troglodyte."
Yes!
How did you and Sandy
become partners with this chimp?
The people that had him
didn't have the right permits.
He was gonna get confiscated
and euthanized.
So, I thought, "What are you waiting for?
Go get it."
I was about 20-grand short.
Gives you another chance.
After having her friend
completely be torn up
and almost killed by a chimp,
Sandy went out one year later
and bought herself another chimp.
It's insane, when you think about it.
It's insane.
Sandy would fly down
to Sarasota when she could
and hang out with Chance
and their other chimpanzees.
She wanted Chance to stay
the night with her, right,
'cause she stayed with us.
He wouldn't stay in bed with her,
he kept sneaking off to me.
He already knew I was his mom.
They snuck him up here at least once.
I have pictures of him in Sandy's kitchen.
The state of Connecticut
would never stand for her
having another chimp
on her property in Stamford.
Sandy thought visiting with Pam
would really help the pain.
But in the end, it was like,
"Wait a minute,
this isn't making it better."
Come here. Come here. Come here.
Put your legs around my neck.
Put 'em around my neck.
Trav, Trav.
Give me a big kiss. Come here.
She was in a phenomenal amount of pain.
One day, she said, "Man,
I'm really not feeling good,
but I'm gonna take a bath.
Maybe that'll help."
And that was it.
Sandra Herold died all alone,
vilified to the very end
for raising that wild chimp.
But she was fairly healthy,
so it was a shock this week
when she suddenly died from
a ruptured aortic aneurysm.
Her lawyer told us, quote, "In the end"
She couldn't get over Travis dying.
I honestly believe she died
of a broken heart.
Give me a sucky kiss.
Give me a sucky kiss.
Give me a sucky kiss.
When it was time to bury Sandy,
I knew where Travis's ashes were.
Sandy totally loved that animal,
like I love my chimps.
Part of you dies with 'em, you know?
Where we headed, Dwayne?
Straight.
And her house is gonna be
right in front of us.
No cars in the driveway.
I'm basically just saying to Tonia
that haven't heard from her,
I hope she's okay.
And she knows she can always,
uh, reach out and find me.
Jesus.
- What?
- Watching you text like this.
Well, I'm trying to
Your call has been forwarded
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Yo.
Obviously, Tonia's figured it out.
Yeah. Well, I mean, that
Did you read the "Rolling Stone" article?
Fuck!
I heard about the story
a couple weeks before Tonka was found,
when Alan Cumming put out a reward.
I specialize in film
and television investigations.
This story's a little bit different,
but Alan Cumming kind of was
that gateway into this.
A woman who claimed
a chimpanzee was dead
Shortly after the news came out
that Tonka was alive, I just called Tonia.
I didn't think she was gonna
pick up, and she did.
She admitted straight off the bat
that she had Tonka for a year,
and that someone in her life
turned her in.
I was asking her who actually knew
about Tonka being alive, and she's like,
"The documentary crew knew.
My friends knew. Friends watched him."
And I said, "Documentary crew?"
And she's like, "Yeah!"
She gave me the name
of the production company,
and I was able to track down
who was maybe participating.
And it led back to, to you.
She was pretty blindsided.
Do you have any thoughts on why Tonia
did this documentary with us,
knowing everything
that's happened and transpired?
I think she just want
her story to be heard.
I think she felt backed up
against a wall with PETA.
And so, I think she just kind of
wanted to voice her frustrations
and kind of, you know,
going up against the man,
and this is what's happening to her.
I also think she's really talkative.
She'll tell anyone everything.
It's okay, baby.
When there's a chance
to explain herself, she takes that.
I love you, boy.
Even when she knows that
maybe she shouldn't keep talking
or tell people a secret,
she just can't help herself.
I really like Tonia.
When she's telling me her story
and what she's went through,
I was really, you know,
empathizing with her.
She told me she took care of Tonka
the best way that she knew how.
And then, I saw pictures
of her in her basement.
It just kind of hits you of, like,
this is where he was
being kept for a year,
and alone with no other chimps.
And I think the reality of the situation
really becomes clear.
To me, I question, does she not see
what other people can see?
Would somebody be able to grab the bucket
with the chains and straps
for the transfer box
and bring it over to special needs?
The plan is to bring him
into outside special needs.
Immediately upon arrival
to Save the Chimps,
Tonka was placed in a temporary
quarantine enclosure.
Tonka did not have
any sort of heart condition,
as Tonia had said.
All of the assessment really indicated,
he was overweight
and needed to be on a better diet.
There was absolutely no basis
whatsoever to euthanize him.
Tonka will stay in quarantine for 90 days
before, hopefully,
he can be fully integrated
into one of the 12
main islands at the facility.
Look at those eyes.
Chimps are not better off in a sanctuary.
My chimps are prima donnas.
Gotta get rid of the goat turds.
He doesn't like 'em.
Turn around, there's no goat crap there,
so stop looking for it.
Sit down, put your feet down.
Goat turds. Disgusting, aren't they?
They don't like being in mosquitoes.
They don't like the rain.
They don't like the wind.
Little bit of drizzle, they won't
"No, I'm not going out today."
My chimps have slept in the White House.
Let's welcome her, if you will.
Pamela Rosaire.
Toto, why don't you do a handstand?
There it is, a head handstand!
Chimps that have been
in the entertainment industry
have been humanized.
What are you getting? No, no, no, no.
You come here. Give me those.
Those are cold french fries.
Come here.
They want coffee in the morning,
that kind of stuff.
Hands up. Put your hands up.
They really love to perform
and entertain people.
Clap your hands. Hard, hard, hard.
Harder, harder.
And PETA, they just don't know
what the real deal is.
That's it, roll it.
Roll it like a man, yeah.
Animals that have grown up
entertaining, they enjoy it.
It's like, you know,
what are they gonna do all day?
It's like an old person.
Once they retire, they don't last long.
Come here. There you are, look.
That's you.
There he is, there Look.
Look, that's you.
See, he recognizes Leo.
He remembers doing all this.
Stop! You're being crazy.
Come here. Stop.
Chance likes to come and hang out
with us in the house.
You're too big to lay in my lap.
But you can't live with 'em.
You're squeezing me really hard.
You have to build a major facility.
You know, like state pen.
I know a lot of people think,
"Oh, they're in a cage, well"
But you ask Chance, and he'll tell you.
He's happy.
Let's go this way. Let's go home. Come on.
The way this whole thing went down,
I do feel bad about that.
But Tonia knew we were always
filming a documentary.
And I always said, "Don't say anything
that you don't want
the whole world to know."
So, let's try to call her.
She may just hang up on you.
When you hold the phone,
can you hold it with your other hand?
And Dwayne, I would just be like,
"Tonia, can I just explain
- If she answers.
- you know, my side?"
Hey, how are you?
You know, I'm okay.
And I just thought I needed to call you.
I just wanted to and
and tell you, sorry.
This is not what
I had wanted to happen at all.
I believe that.
Believe it or not, I do believe that.
You know, you're the only one
out of that whole crew
that I thought the world of
because you do love the animals.
I see it.
I just couldn't figure out
where your place was,
except I just figured
because Eric Goode's good at this,
he hires people like you that can get in
and get the trust built.
Have you researched Eric Goode?
- Yeah, I mean
- You know his mom
was basically a prostitute, right?
His mom was trash.
And caused him
to be fucked up in the head.
He can't take the law into his own hands.
He has no right to do that.
I trusted you guys,
and you guys harmed Tonka.
You didn't harm me.
Look at this.
This is the first picture
Save the Chimps posted of him.
Look at his face.
Tell me that he looks happy.
He's lost.
So, what happens now?
I mean
Do I want this documentary?
No, no, no, no, no.
But here's the deal.
If it has to be, though,
I want it to be about
what the true story is.
So, if you can't beat 'em,
you might as well join them.
This is her.
You drive that thing,
you ripped it in here.
Hi, how are you?
Have you ever been here before?
It's the same.
It even smells like 1960.
A lot has happened since we last talked.
Yeah.
Do you blame me for Tonka?
No. If I did,
I wouldn't be here, obviously.
I get a feel for people,
and I know people.
So, in the interest of fairness,
I talked to Eric Goode.
And I said, "Would you be
willing to come and meet Tonia?"
He said yes.
So, would you be willing to meet Eric?
You know, it just
Really curious what she's gonna do
when she hears I'm here.
'Cause I'm the bad guy in this.
But we like to look at ourselves
differently, don't we?
I don't know, we
like to believe our own truth.
Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna be here,
but I'm just
- Okay.
- Okay, alright.
- Oh, my God.
- Tonia
- Hi.
- this is Eric Goode.
We have a lot to talk about.
So, there's so many things
I wanna tell you,
but one is, I can relate
to what you're going through.
- I hope so.
- I also keep animals.
And I know there's certain animals
that if someone took them away from me,
I would be very, very upset.
And, of course, of course,
I never expected this to end this way.
But when you started talking
about putting Tonka down
Yeah, but I never said I was.
You just took the words,
but you did not take
the emotion,
the feeling of what I would do.
So, you were really never
contemplating killing Tonka?
No.
I guess it was smart to say,
"I'm gonna kill Tonka,
"because that would just make
everyone just think
I don't have Tonka, and then I can live
happily ever after with Tonka."
Yeah, that was part of it.
Because it got to the point to where
I would've ran to Mexico.
I would've had coyotes
get me across this
the border with Tonka,
and me and Tonka would've lived in Mexico.
The rest of our lives.
And I'd just build him a cage there,
and just get me a little veranda,
and get me some Mexicans
to help me, and there we go.
Why are you talking to me?
Why are you okay talking with me?
I just want Tonka to come home.
And if this will make it happen
and put a little pressure on PETA
to just let me visit,
that's all I care about.
'Cause he is my kid. He is my kid.
Even though I didn't naturally bore him,
Tonka is a humanzee
half human, half chimpanzee.
But his preference is the human side.
After Tonka left,
I haven't been down here.
It's like a mausoleum.
These are all his blankets.
I've not touched 'em. Everything is exact.
As I go past the stairway,
I think I'm gonna see him
come up, 'cause he did,
and no Tonka.
Tonka had free access to any room here.
He was not just in that little tiny cage.
He loved to look outside.
Is there anything that
replaces Tonka for you?
Oh, no. No.
How I cope with things
is just by ignoring.
I don't talk about it.
I just don't act like it exists.
See what you think of that.
Basically, to compensate
for Tonka not being here,
I try to keep busy
by getting the zoo prepped.
You just keep your time and space filled
and your mind occupied.
Say, "Give me a week," and say,
"He'll be my best friend."
I think my golden years
have turned into copper.
Because I've lost my child.
Chance was jumping around, being a chimp.
And all of a sudden, he just keeled over.
- Fifteen.
- Fifteen?
- Just a kid, you know?
- Just a kid.
I think something in his brain happened.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Let me tell you, when we got Chance,
it was his last chance
to have a permanent home,
and my last chance
to have a baby at my age.
And God bless God for giving it to me.
And I love you all. Thank you all
for honoring my son.
This is Chance.
He just said "hello" in chimpanzee.
Isn't that sweet?
Can you wave to everyone?
Put your hand up and wave.
I'm forever grateful for having him
for the 15 years that I had him.
You give me that ball.
You give me that ball!
You better give me that ball.
I don't care if I empty
my banking account,
sell my property, sell my car.
I'd do it again.
I still have three chimps.
Ricky, stop.
They are my whole life.
But my heart is broken.
So, if anybody has a baby out there
that they need to place
where it'll have a forever home
and live like a millionaire,
to bring him to my house, okay?
Here she is. Here she is, hold on.
Hey, Tonia. What's happening?
You gotta realize, I got a broken foot.
So, anything we do, I have to have my
Alright, I'm here. I pulled in.
- Okay, I'll see you in a second.
- Okay. Okay, bye.
How did you hurt your foot?
That's
that's another story. It is what it is.
There's so much going on with PETA.
Last Monday, there was a ruling
that stated that I had to pay PETA
$225,000 in attorney fees.
- Do you have money?
- No.
Not at this point, no.
It's been dumped into the zoo over here.
And addition to that, the brokering market
is pretty low right now.
Plus, I can't drive.
I can't go pick up animals.
I can't do anything.
I'm always used to hustling,
and, you know,
being able to produce money every week.
And since it hasn't been happening,
it's been stagnated, it's really
had me very, very concerned.
The zoo's gotta be successful.
I have a lot of anxiety behind it.
- Hi, Tonia.
- Hey, Tonia.
- This is Joanie.
- Hi, this is Meg
- with Americollect.
- This is Beth.
- I am a debt collector.
- I'm a debt collector.
This is an attempt to collect a debt.
And this is an attempt to collect a debt.
I'm in the office Monday through Friday.
From 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Again, I'm a debt collector.
Thank you so much, and have a great day.
Thanks, and have a great day.
Thanks, and have a great day.
Do I think that as soon as
they find out about the zoo,
Pee-wee Herman and Brittany Peet
will be at the doors? Oh, yeah.
Once they get a hold of somebody,
they don't turn 'em loose
until basically they're killed.
Yeah, you get to hold a monkey.
I'm gonna let somebody
help me pick names for 'em.
I think Tonia's zoo is all about serving
as a marketing tool for her
exotic animal sale business.
People have no clue. Most people never
get to hold a baby, ever.
It's designed to drive up
the demand for pet primates.
And as long as Tonia Haddix
continues abusing and exploiting animals,
PETA will continue going after her.
So, there'll always be baby monkeys,
baby wallabies, baby everything,
we'll always have a baby
of different types.
So, just 'cause you had a baby this week
doesn't mean it will be the same baby.
A quarter-million dollars
is a lot of money.
Is it overkill to expect Tonia
to pay that judgment?
This isn't about Tonia Haddix anymore.
This is about PETA's mission.
That money will go back
into helping more animals.
It's never PETA's intent
to make anyone insolvent.
We don't want Tonia
to be out on the street.
We want her out of the animal
exploitation business.
I got an email from Jared Goodman.
"I write for this purpose
of a potential alternative
"in resolution.
"PETA can forgo collections if Miss Haddix
"would agree to go out
of the animal dealing
and exhibition business."
I cannot breed, sell, adopt, trade,
negotiate, transport any kind of animal,
not just exotics.
Sorry. I'm sorry, this is
That's fucked up.
That is so fucked up and ridiculous.
No. No, no, no, no.
Now, I'm mad. Mad, mad, mad.
No.
There's only one thing
that they could give me
that would get me to stand down,
and that's Tonka.
If they would give me my kid back,
I would give 'em everything they want.
But the realization just actually set in
for the first time that Tonka
probably won't come home.
I love Tonka. He's my whole heart.
He's my whole life.
I would give up everything.
I'd give up my marriage,
I'd give up anything
if they would let me have Tonka.
And if they would just let me visit,
all I'd have to do is say,
"Let's go home, boy."
Tonka would say,
"Mom, how come I'm not at home?
What the hell happened here?"
I'm feeling sort of nervous.
There's a little churning in the stomach.
So many years of
hoping I would see him again,
and in a place like this as well.
So, it's quite yeah, it's quite a lot.
Feels like this culmination
of a really long odyssey.
Hello?
Hello?
It's ringing.
- Hello.
- Save the Chimps.
- How can I help you?
- Hello.
It's Alan Cumming and some filmy people.
So, we're on 150 acres, 12 islands,
each with large social groups.
Thirteen to 23 chimps
in each of the social groups.
This is Tonka's island here on the right.
Actually knowing that he's here
is just sort of
Oh, look.
I recognize him.
It's easy to forget how insane
this whole thing was,
like, all the years
of court cases and lies.
And, I mean, it was just insane.
Finally, it was sort of calm
for the first time in this whole story.
I really hope Tonia might think that too.
I really hope that she will
watch this and will hopefully
I
I hope she might understand.
Yeah, I really hope she might be at peace
with this, with watching this.
Tonia Haddix.
- Yo.
- I fucked up.
I admit that I did something stupid.
Where are you? What's going on?
It's gonna be national headlines,
'cause with my name on a chimp situation,
you know what that's gonna bring.
I mean, come on.
Oh, you don't even frickin' know.
Two days ago, I get a call from Tonia
telling me that she went
to visit a friend of hers
who had a chimp.
And she got in the enclosure
with an adult male chimp.
He was so sweet through the cage.
But as soon as I went in there,
I mean, I didn't even get
a chance to sit down.
He was mauling me.
It was kinda like Charla Nash.
I have a couple questions.
- Okay.
- Can you see that bandage
on my ear?
Okay, 'cause it's pretty big, so.
And it's white, so, you know,
it pretty much sticks out pretty hard.
No.
No. No. That's No.
Everything's fine. It is, it's great.
Great, great, great.
Great.
I think I startled him,
and I think he just
kinda lost it a little bit.
And I just turned away from him
because I didn't want
my face to be attacked
because he got my finger.
That's how my arm got dislocated.
It just got pulled out of socket.
I got 'em on my legs,
I got one right here.
Just a little bit on my legs,
and mainly this hand, and that's it.
And the ear, and that's it.
He took a tip of the ear off.
Just a piece.
And so, once the owner got him to retort,
I just had to leave.
I just had to get out of there,
and I had to go to the hospital.
Well, I wanted my ear to be salvaged,
and so I had to go to the hospital.
So, I did.
Every time I go to sleep,
I have nightmares over the situation.
But ask me today if I would own a chimp
or if I'd own a baboon,
of if I'd own a capuchin,
or if I'd own any kind of primate
that could potentially do that to me.
100%, yes.
In fact, I came up with a new idea.
There's a new island for sale here,
and it's a very famous island here
at the lake.
I want to sell the zoo
and buy that island.
I want to get some chimps,
or get some orangutans,
or I'd take a gorilla, even,
and just let 'em be free.
I'm gonna do the same thing
Save the Chimps does,
except I'm gonna live with them,
among them.
We're all gonna cohabitate together.
You know, if they wanna do art,
or if they wanna come
into the house and eat lunch,
they can come in the house and eat lunch.
I would name it "Tonka Safari".
I want to dedicate anything to him.
I just want to live in
I don't know, just with chimps.
And then that's it. End of story.