Instead, the series wound up focusing on Haddix’s intense relationship with her movie-star pet chimpanzee Tonka and her ensuing battle against PETA after she faked the ape’s death. The kicker ...

One of the mothers, Tonia Haddix, spearheads a search effort for Tonka, a beloved chimpanzee known for starring in Hollywood ...

However when PETA and officials arrived to transport the animals to the sanctuary, Haddix’s favorite chimp Tonka — who starred in the movies George of the Jungle and Buddy — was nowhere to ...

The facility’s owner, Connie Casey, bred chimpanzees that starred in movies, appeared on Hallmark ... admitting to the cameras that she cared more about Tonka than her own human son.

Tonia Haddix is at the center of yearslong controversy over her ownership of Tonka, a chimpanzee who starred in Hollywood movies Emily Krauser is a contributing writer at PEOPLE. She has been at ...

1, viewers learned that Haddix, who’d previously claimed Tonka had died (she’d provided evidence that he’d been cremated), was keeping her “humanzee” hidden in her Missouri basement.