Alan Cumming’s Buddy Co-Star Tonka The Chimp Found Alive After Long Search

Alan Cumming’s Buddy Co-Star Tonka The Chimp Found Alive After Long Search

After being feared dead for a year, Alan Cumming’s chimp co-star from 1997’s Buddy has been found alive, secretly kept at the private home of Tonia Haddix. Haddix, the owner of the Missouri Primate Foundation, had been court-ordered to turn over Tonka and six other chimpanzees last year after citing the Foundation for numerous violations of the Endangered Species Act. This included illegally breeding the animals and renting them out to private parties, as well as keeping them in cramped, cockroach-infested enclosures. The news comes hot on the heels of yesterday’s arrest of Doc Antle, another controversial zookeeper, and the subject of Netflix’s most recent Tiger King season.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY
In 2021, when PETA intervened to rescue the chimps from the Missouri Primate Foundation, only six could be found. It was then that Haddix claimed Tonka suffered a stroke and died from heart failure at an earlier time, so she disposed of his body in a fire pit. However, her claims could not be substantiated and details of the body’s disposal varied over time. PETA issued a reward of $10,000 for any information on Tonka, news of which caught the attention of Alan Cumming, who had befriended the animal on the set of the family film Buddy. In a strange mirroring, Buddy is about a wealthy animal hoarder who almost refuses to take an unruly ape named Buddy to a sanctuary until it’s almost too late. Cumming matched PETA’s award sum to raise awareness of his missing friend, in the hopes any information, or a final resting place, could be found for Tonka.

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A tweet from PETA confirms a thankfully positive end to this story, saying ” WE FOUND TONKA,” along with a picture of the chimp. A recording of a phone call between Haddix and a person posing as a documentarian was sent to PETA after Haddix admitted that Tonka was still alive, but might be euthanized on June 2 due to his poor condition. This allowed PETA to gain an emergency temporary restraining order, stopping Haddix from being able to euthanize the animal and remove him from her property. He was found with a 60-inch TV and an interactive iPad-like touch device and reportedly had recently celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with Haddix and her friends. Tonka is currently at Haddix’s home being assessed by an expert independent veterinarian to ensure he’s in good enough condition to be safely transported to an accredited sanctuary. Check out PETA’s post below:

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WE FOUND TONKA!
PETA has been looking for the missing chimpanzee who starred alongside #AlanCumming in the film ‘Buddy.’
See how we found him & what we’re doing to get him to an accredited sanctuary ASAP. https://t.co/mJeiUVPqZV
— PETA (@peta) June 2, 2022

Unlike David Schwimmer’s contentious relationship with the capuchin who played Marcel on Friends, it’s great that Cumming had such a strong bond with Tonka, as his contribution to the reward likely aided in the chimp’s safe recovery. Haddix, for her part, seems to show no remorse in the situation, as she admitted in an interview with Rolling Stone that she had “absolutely, 100 percent,” been lying about Tonka’s death and thinks that if PETA transports him, it will kill him. She maintains that he’s safer at her home, being around people than he is at a sanctuary being around other chimps. When told she could be held in contempt of court for lying under oath, she laughed and responded, “Honey, I’ve been held in contempt of court three times. 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.“

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Sadly, the exploitation of monkeys isn’t as uncommon as one might think. Elon Musk’s Neuralink has recently killed over a dozen monkeys by implanting experimental chips in their brains, with very few repercussions seeming to befall the tech giant. Thankfully PETA is still out there, putting in the groundwork to ensure our more innocent animal counterparts are being treated ethically and being rescued from those who do them harm. Hopefully, Alan Cumming’s buddy Tonka will get the happy ending he deserves and will be healthy enough to make it to a safe haven to fully recover.

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Source: PETA/Rolling Stone

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#Alan #Cummings #Buddy #CoStar #Tonka #Chimp #Alive #Long #Search

Alan Cumming’s Buddy Co-Star Tonka The Chimp Found Alive After Long Search

After being feared dead for a year, Alan Cumming’s chimp co-star from 1997’s Buddy has been found alive, secretly kept at the private home of Tonia Haddix. Haddix, the owner of the Missouri Primate Foundation, had been court-ordered to turn over Tonka and six other chimpanzees last year after citing the Foundation for numerous violations of the Endangered Species Act. This included illegally breeding the animals and renting them out to private parties, as well as keeping them in cramped, cockroach-infested enclosures. The news comes hot on the heels of yesterday’s arrest of Doc Antle, another controversial zookeeper, and the subject of Netflix’s most recent Tiger King season.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY
In 2021, when PETA intervened to rescue the chimps from the Missouri Primate Foundation, only six could be found. It was then that Haddix claimed Tonka suffered a stroke and died from heart failure at an earlier time, so she disposed of his body in a fire pit. However, her claims could not be substantiated and details of the body’s disposal varied over time. PETA issued a reward of $10,000 for any information on Tonka, news of which caught the attention of Alan Cumming, who had befriended the animal on the set of the family film Buddy. In a strange mirroring, Buddy is about a wealthy animal hoarder who almost refuses to take an unruly ape named Buddy to a sanctuary until it’s almost too late. Cumming matched PETA’s award sum to raise awareness of his missing friend, in the hopes any information, or a final resting place, could be found for Tonka.

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1535570269372-ccr2’); });

A tweet from PETA confirms a thankfully positive end to this story, saying ” WE FOUND TONKA,” along with a picture of the chimp. A recording of a phone call between Haddix and a person posing as a documentarian was sent to PETA after Haddix admitted that Tonka was still alive, but might be euthanized on June 2 due to his poor condition. This allowed PETA to gain an emergency temporary restraining order, stopping Haddix from being able to euthanize the animal and remove him from her property. He was found with a 60-inch TV and an interactive iPad-like touch device and reportedly had recently celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with Haddix and her friends. Tonka is currently at Haddix’s home being assessed by an expert independent veterinarian to ensure he’s in good enough condition to be safely transported to an accredited sanctuary. Check out PETA’s post below:

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1535570269372-ccr3’); });

WE FOUND TONKA!
PETA has been looking for the missing chimpanzee who starred alongside #AlanCumming in the film ‘Buddy.’
See how we found him & what we’re doing to get him to an accredited sanctuary ASAP. https://t.co/mJeiUVPqZV
— PETA (@peta) June 2, 2022

Unlike David Schwimmer’s contentious relationship with the capuchin who played Marcel on Friends, it’s great that Cumming had such a strong bond with Tonka, as his contribution to the reward likely aided in the chimp’s safe recovery. Haddix, for her part, seems to show no remorse in the situation, as she admitted in an interview with Rolling Stone that she had “absolutely, 100 percent,” been lying about Tonka’s death and thinks that if PETA transports him, it will kill him. She maintains that he’s safer at her home, being around people than he is at a sanctuary being around other chimps. When told she could be held in contempt of court for lying under oath, she laughed and responded, “Honey, I’ve been held in contempt of court three times. 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.“

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1535570269372-ccr4’); });

Sadly, the exploitation of monkeys isn’t as uncommon as one might think. Elon Musk’s Neuralink has recently killed over a dozen monkeys by implanting experimental chips in their brains, with very few repercussions seeming to befall the tech giant. Thankfully PETA is still out there, putting in the groundwork to ensure our more innocent animal counterparts are being treated ethically and being rescued from those who do them harm. Hopefully, Alan Cumming’s buddy Tonka will get the happy ending he deserves and will be healthy enough to make it to a safe haven to fully recover.

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1535570269372-ccr5’); });

Source: PETA/Rolling Stone

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1550597677810-bta’); });

#Alan #Cummings #Buddy #CoStar #Tonka #Chimp #Alive #Long #Search