Tonia Haddix in the new docu-series Chimp Crazy, which is now available on Neon. Photo / Sky
Tonia Haddix in the new docu-series Chimp Crazy, which is now available on Neon. Photo / Sky
REVIEW
Tiger King’s crown as television’s most outrageous documentary series has just been nabbed right off its furry head by Neon’s new four-part doco, Chimp Crazy.
As the title suggests, it’s about people whose fondness for chimpanzees has gone way too far. People who have swung through all boundaries of common sense, societal consideration and animal welfare. People who have willingly sprinted across the gargantuan line that separates, “I like monkeys” and “I live with a hulking great chimp”.
Specifically, it’s about a person suspected of kidnapping an adult chimpanzee. A person who is certifiably “chimp crazy”. A person named Tonia Haddix.
At the risk of armchair psychoanalysing, there is something deeply troubled and not quite right about Haddix. How else to explain a person who loves an animal more than her own child?
And not by a little. By a lot. It’s not even close.
Chimp Crazy is made by Eric Goode, the producer of Tiger King. Photo / Sky
This is not sensationalising. It’s the first thing she says in the opening seconds of the series.
“Monkey love is totally different than the way that you have love for your child,” she says, dead-serious as she coins the hilarious, but deeply disturbing term “monkey love”.
“If it’s your natural-born child it’s just natural because you actually gave birth to that kid. But when you adopt a monkey, the bond is much, much deeper.”
Haddix is a former nurse, a profession that naturally attracts caring people. But somewhere her carer instincts transferred from people to chimpanzees and she embroiled herself in the murky world of America’s exotic animal trading scene. The same backdrop as Tiger King.
Her gateway was The Missouri Primate Foundation, which sounds legit. In reality, it’s a large concrete shed in the backyard of a chimp breeder. The place was a breeding facility and a prison for chimps who had been bought as cute, manageable babies but had become uncontrollable upon reaching adulthood. Which, as a reminder, is every chimpanzee in existence.
Eric Goode, the director of Chimp Crazy. Photo / Sky
The humans did love these chimps, but love alone is not enough when you’re locked in a concrete cell with green-painted floors, blue-painted ceilings and no windows.
It was such an incredibly depressing hell-hole for the chimps imprisoned there that Peta launched legal action to get it shut down. The first two episodes of the series follow Haddix, the legal battle and her suspicious involvement after the verdict is reached.
Even without her worrying chimp obsession, Haddix is an odd character. Labelling herself the “Dolly Parton of chimps” she wears big, bouffy wigs, squeezes herself into bright pink clothing and dollops on the makeup with all the artistry of a chimpanzee with a paint set. She grants the crew full access to her life, from her overly pink home to her work at the foundation to getting her lips pumped with filler at the salon. Nothing is off-limits. Like Tiger King’s Joe Exotic, she’s a fascinating character and oddly likable.
At the heart of Chimp Crazy is her relationship with Tonka, a former showbiz chimp who starred in films such as George of the Jungle and Buddy.
“Tonka and I just found each other. And Tonka loved me as much as I loved Tonka,” she says. “It was meant to be. It was just natural.”
Tonia Haddix with the movie star chimpanzee Tonka. Photo / Sky
Tonka was already a full-grown chimpanzee by the time Haddix entered his life. Perhaps starstruck she became immediately over-attached. As it becomes clear that Peta is going to win, and the chimps are going be relocated to a picturesque, accredited sanctuary, she gets desperate.
“I’ll do anything to protect that primate,” she righteously vows. “I would give my life for him.”
What follows is complete madness that really shouldn’t be spoiled. It needs to be seen to be believed.
Haddix is the star of the series, but hers is not the only story in Chimp Crazy. We also learn of two others who thought bringing chimps into their homes and treating them like living cuddly toys – instead of incredibly dangerous wild animals – was a good idea.
These are cautionary tales.
Tonia Haddix is the focus of the new series. Photo / Sky
We see the chimps growing up in fun home videos where they’re treated as one of the family. There are interviews with friends and family. It’s cute.
Then we see news reports and bloody graphic photos after the adult chimps snapped and launched bloodthirsty, vicious attacks that left people mutilated and maimed. It’s horrifying.
Along with the chimps, there’s also a b-plot as doco maker Eric Goode, the chap who also made Tiger King, wrestles with the ethics around the shows that he makes.
Chimp Crazy is so wild it makes Tiger King look tame. It’s truly flabbergasting, laugh-out-loud funny, breathtakingly shocking, gruesomely appalling and deeply unsettling all at once. In short, it’s utterly bananas.
Karl Puschmann is an entertainment columnist for the Herald. His fascination lies in finding out what drives and inspires creative people.
