Overview

• U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark handed down the 46-month sentence on August 7, concluding a case that began with PETA’s 2016 lawsuit over the care of Haddix’s primate facility.
• Haddix pleaded guilty in March to two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice after repeatedly falsely declaring that Tonka had died and been cremated.
• On June 8, 2022, federal marshals rescued Tonka from a basement cage in Haddix’s Festus, Missouri compound and transferred him to the Save the Chimps sanctuary.
• A bond inspection in July uncovered another unregistered chimp in her Lake of the Ozarks home, prompting her detention ahead of her federal prison transfer.
• The high-profile HBO docuseries “Chimp Crazy” exposed Haddix’s defiance of court orders and drew attention to gaps in federal oversight of private exotic pet ownership.