A Missouri woman has been sentenced to 46 months in prison after admitting she lied under oath and in court filings about the fate of Tonka, a chimpanzee that once appeared in Hollywood films. Tonia Haddix, 55, pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. Her false statements influenced a long-running civil case over the care of chimpanzees at her facility near Festus, Missouri.
The federal suit began in 2016 when People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sued Haddix regarding conditions for Tonka and other chimpanzees. Over several years, court orders required Haddix to improve the animals’ living standards and eventually mandated transferring Tonka and six other chimpanzees to a sanctuary. In July 2021, authorities removed six chimps from her property, but Haddix had already relocated Tonka secretly to Ohio.
Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, Haddix continued telling the court that Tonka was dead. On multiple occasions—including sworn declarations and testimony—she claimed that Tonka had died and been cremated. The district court relied on these statements when denying PETA’s contempt motion.
It was not until June 2022, after new evidence surfaced showing Tonka was alive, that the court ordered his transfer to a primate sanctuary. Federal marshals found him caged in Haddix’s basement; he now resides at Save the Chimps sanctuary.
Haddix also appeared in a documentary where she concealed Tonka’s location while publicly claiming he had died. She later violated her pretrial release by hiding another chimpanzee from pretrial services officers during an inspection at her Camden County home; this animal was recovered following a court-ordered search.
In sentencing documents, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith described how Haddix “repeatedly and publicly disclosed her animosity towards the Court and opposing party PETA, as well as her intent to violate the Court’s Orders requiring the surrender of the chimpanzees.” The memo added that she “challenged the Court’s authority to order her to surrender Tonka and the other chimpanzees, expressly stating her intent not to comply with the Court’s orders, and voicing various implied threats aimed at any law enforcement officers who might approach her business in an effort to execute the Court’s orders.” The government also stated that Haddix “reveled in her ability to obstruct justice and delay the civil proceedings,” profiting from media appearances related to her conduct.
“Tonia Haddix’s lies about the death of Tonka were only part of a series of falsehoods that she told the District Court about her plans to properly care for the chimps in her custody,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus. “She continued to lie, even as she pleaded guilty in March, as she was secretly keeping a new chimp in a cage in the basement of her home where she once confined Tonka. Justice is impossible if participants in the judicial system lie. This case should send a message that those lies will not be tolerated, nor will violations of plea agreements and pretrial release conditions.”
“This case is not about Tonia Haddix’s exotic animal business,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. “Her sentence today reflects her blatant disregard of our judicial process by telling wild lies under oath in front of a federal judge.”
The FBI investigated this matter and Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith prosecuted it.
