Made by the same people who filmed the incredibly popular 2020 Netflix show “Tiger King,” “Chimp Crazy” follows the story of people who own chimpanzees and other types of monkeys.
Airing on Max, “Chimp Crazy” is a docuseries following the life and story of Tonia Haddix, an exotic animal breeder, and her chimpanzee Tonka. The story shows the twos fight with the animal organization PETA. The series was directed by Eric Goode and the same people who filmed “Tiger King” for Netflix back in 2020.
This show is a great follow up to “Tiger King.” Having to hire a face double to talk to Haddix due to his tarnished reputation in the community, Eric Goode has once again made a great docuseries exposing the inner workings of the exotic animal community. It shows the rise and fall of the chimpanzee breeding scene and what steps both chimp owners and animal organization PETA will go. Just like “Tiger King” the story is told through interviews with those involved along with live footage of the events taking place.
Within the overarching story there are segments of other chimps in the industry and how those stories ended violently.
These segments include stories like the infamous Travis the chimp incident. Where the chimp, Travis, ended up attacking and severely disfiguring his owner’s best friend before being shot dead. They cleverly threw in these stories of violence to show just how dangerous these animals are and that no matter how “tame” they are there’s still a chance of them snapping. This point of view is what PETA and people close to Haddix try to convince her throughout the series.
But just like with Joe Exotic in “Tiger King” Haddix took those concerns as attacks which is what ultimately caused her to fake the death of Tonka and keep the chimp in hiding.
The producers do a great job with the twist of Tonka being alive and in Haddix’s basement. Up to that point they had framed the story in a way that truly made it seem like what Haddix was saying about the chimp being dead was true.
When they first show that Tonka was still alive the previous scene was Haddix on a court zoom call with PETA crying uncontrollably and unable to speak, before cutting to her almost emotionless walking the camera crew down to the basement and showing them Tonka. The pacing of the show, though sometimes quick, works well with the story they were trying to tell.
Though what Haddix did and still does is essentially wrong and PETA has every right to go after her, it’s easy to feel bad for her. That “sadness” comes from the producers, just like what they did with “Tiger King” the producers frame PETA and other animal activists as the “bad guys.” No matter how you feel about owning exotic animals there is a bias since the director himself was once an exotic owner and trader. The story of both sides is valid and both sides are in the wrong. PETA is too harsh with their activities, yet exotic owners know what they’re doing and know why PETA is after them. Just like with most things neither side will truly be happy with whatever the outcome is. At this point it’s more so coming to a point where both sides can just exist together, a point where neither animals or humans are getting hurt.
Overall this was an intriguing and engaging show to watch and is a great insight on the inner workings of the exotic monkey trade. It really leaves you wondering about the ethics of both PETA and the breeders and how an issue like this can be avoided in the future and or be handled in a more efficient way. It offers shocking stories and interesting insights into an industry most don’t think about.