From the minds of Tiger King comes a new docuseries about exotic animal owners. HBO’s Chimp Crazy focuses on the women who raise chimpanzees and monkeys across the US.
Tiger King director Eric Goode focuses on chimp owner Tonia Haddix’s obsession with the animal. Tonia owned a famous chimp named Tonka who was taken away during the filming. “It’s complex,” Goode says about the situation. “She possibly loves a chimpanzee more than her own children. It’s obsessive. It’s real: she absolutely loves this chimpanzee. But there’s probably also some – and I’m not a trained in this area – mental health issues that reside in a number of these women. Why they need so desperately to have that relationship versus a normal, loving relationship that we typically have.”
Related: My Experience With a Pet Psychic Healed My Heart After Losing My Cat—Here’s What Happened
Where is the Chimp Crazy cast now?
Below is an update to all the “chimp moms” and everyone who’s in the docuseries.
Tonia Haddix
Image Credit: HBO Tonia Haddix still raises exotic animals at the Sunrise Beach Safari which she founded in 2023. She is currently brokering monkeys to their “forever homes.”
After the release of Chimp Crazy, Haddix believed that the producers of the docuseries reported an anonymous tip to U.S. officials that resulted in Tonka being taken away. “They wanted a magnificent ending to their story so that they could get that $60 million off of that documentary,” she told Inside Edition. “They lied to me from the get-go.”
She defended her stance as Tonka’s rightful owner, “They took him from the only home he knows, the only mother he knows, and he woke up in a sanctuary setting, and he doesn’t know what happened,” she says. “He counts on me and I know he does and now his whole world is turned upside down.”
Sandy Herold
Sandy Herold raised her monkey Travis in Stamford, Connecticut. The documentary recounts that everyone in town was close with Travis and had no problem with Sandra and her animals. Everything turned south when Travis mauled Charla Nash, which resulted in Officer Frank Chiafri shooting him.
Sandy Herold died in 2010. Charla Nash sued Herold for $50 million after the attack but received only $4 million in a settlement in 2012.
“She was a person who kept everything to herself. I’m shocked. She was very depressed. After her husband died, she had nobody. And after Travis, that put her in a very bad state,” her sister-in-law Ann Clumax told Greenwich Time.
Kerri DeBlasi
Kerri Deblasi appeared in episode two of Chimp Crazy when she recounted her experiences with her aunt Sandy Harrold and her monkeys. She currently works as a real estate agent in Connecticut.
Dwayne Cunningham
Image Credit: HBO Dwayne Cunningham was hired by Eric Goode as a proxy director to get the inside scoop with Connie Casey. According to his Facebook, he is an animal consultant and used to work at Big Cat Habitat.
Connie Casey
Connie Casey has been the target of PETA for years since she opened up at the Missouri Primate Foundation (MPF). Conditions at Casey’s home were found to be covered in filth and feces. A volunteer at the facility told The US Sun that it maintained that condition because of how difficult it was to run the facility on a budget that amounted to little more than her Social Security checks.
PETA filed a lawsuit against Casey and Haddix for poor living conditions. In a settlement agreement signed by PETA, Haddix, and Casey included a provision that neither Haddix nor Casey could ever again own, possess, or exhibit chimpanzees.
Alan Cumming
Image Credit: HBO Famed Scottish actor Alan Cumming appears on Chimp Crazy because he starred with Tonka in the 1997 film Buddy. He adds $10,000 to a reward for information on the ape’s whereabouts.
Alan Cumming currently hosts The Traitors.
Officer Frank Chiafri
Image Credit: HBO Frank Chiafri killed Travis the Chimp after the monkey attacked Sandy Herold’s friend. He recounted the traumatizing experience to The New York Times and admitted that he had to go to therapy because of it.
According to his Instagram, he’s also a musician. His song appeared in the Netflix documentary, The Devil On Trial.
