{"id":36759,"date":"2022-06-04T19:37:05","date_gmt":"2022-06-04T19:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/alan-cummings-missing-co-star-chimp-thought-dead-found-alive\/"},"modified":"2022-06-04T19:37:05","modified_gmt":"2022-06-04T19:37:05","slug":"alan-cummings-missing-co-star-chimp-thought-dead-found-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/alan-cummings-missing-co-star-chimp-thought-dead-found-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"Alan Cumming’s Missing Co-Star Chimp, Thought Dead, Found Alive"},"content":{"rendered":"
Last May, Tonka the chimpanzee, an elderly ape who starred in George of the Jungle<\/i> and Buddy<\/i> alongside actor Alan Cumming in 1997, died, according to court records.<\/p>\n
The chimp had recently suffered a stroke and died from heart failure, his owner Tonia Haddix claimed, submitting a declaration and court documents to a Missouri judge that detailed how the animal’s body was burned in a fire pit.<\/p>\n
But this week, Tonka was found alive, secretly hidden away for the past year in Haddix’s Clever, Missouri home where he had a 60-inch TV, an interactive iPad-like touch device, and had celebrated St. Patrick’s Day among a few of Haddix’s close friends.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, authorities searched her home as part of an emergency court order obtained by PETA, whom she has been battling in a heated lawsuit since 2018. Faking Tonka’s death was a last-ditch effort by Haddix to keep her beloved chimp after a judge ordered her to turn over Tonka and six other chimpanzees to the Center for Great Apes sanctuary in Wauchula, Florida.<\/p>\n
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Haddix was busted by a recording of a phone call that PETA said it had received where the exotic animal breeder “confessed that [Tonka] was still alive but would be euthanized on June 2. “<\/p>\n
With officials still on her property as of Friday, Haddix admits to Rolling Stone<\/i> that she had lied about Tonka’s death, saying he’s been with her the whole time. \u201cOh absolutely, 100 percent,\u201d she says. “In my house, yes.”<\/p>\n
However, she denies that she had any immediate plans to euthanize Tonka, insisting that because of his poor health, her longtime vet was simply planning on doing a checkup that day, although the medic had recommended that eventually Tonka would need to be put down.<\/p>\n
And despite potentially being found in contempt of court for lying under oath, Haddix laughs. \u201cHoney, I’ve been held in contempt of court three times,\u201d she says. “I have paid $ 50 a day [in fines]. I’ve been through the mill. I’m sure that there’ll be some jail time in this. Do I care? No, I don’t care. It’s because it’s about that kid. As long as that kid is safe, I don’t care about nothing out there. “<\/p>\n
Tonka’s discovery is the latest Tiger King<\/i>-esque twist in PETA’s suit against Haddix, who says there’s a documentary being filmed about her and the legal battle, with the camera crew en route to capture the story’s latest development.<\/p>\n