Monkey love is totally different
than the way that you have love for your child.
If it's your natural born child, it's just natural because you actually,
you know, gave birth to that kid.
But when you adopt a monkey, the bond is much, much deeper.
Baby, hey, look at you. What are you doing?
- Hey. - Hey.
Human children are meant to grow up
and build bonds with other people in society.
But not chimpanzees.
Look at that little chimp.
Their mother is their whole life.
And that primate feels that way about you, because you become their mother.
I'm sorry, there is nothing like holding, loving,
being around a chimp.
Tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle...
It's the best thing since peanut butter.
I can't explain it,
'cause it's like something that you just don't ever feel.
It's so empowering.
They are just like us.
Especially Tonka.
Kiss.
Thank you. He's a good boy, a good boy.
Tonka and I just found each other.
And Tonka loved me as much as I love Tonka.
It was meant to be, it was just natural.
It's like your love for God.
And I'll do anything to protect that primate, anything.
A fight over chimpanzees should be over.
The chimpanzee lady now making national news.
They're gonna have to bring sheriffs and they're gonna have
to bring everything that they can.
I would give anything that I have possession-wise up
for that child.
I would give my life for him.
And that's exactly what I did, to be honest.
There it is.
No, stop it. It's okay.
My dad asked me what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
I said, I wanna be the world's most famous chimpanzee trainer.
- How old were you? - Seven.
My ancestors were all circus people.
So, I couldn't just have one chimp, you know?
You had to have at least three, because then it was an act.
Chimps have a very long life. They have the same lifespan that we do.
So, I picked the right trade.
I'm still performing with my chimps.
(announcer, indistinct)
Thank you very much!
Chimps are amazing.
They can do just about anything they want to
because they have our intelligence.
They're calculating, they watch every move you make.
They learn to read people. They know what you say.
Every word you say, they understand it.
Somebody's trying to get a beer on the back of the truck here.
No! Don't do that.
Punch. Punch! Punch!
They are 98.4 human DNA.
So, therefore, they are our closest living relative.
They're my kids.
And they're always gonna be my kids.
Years ago, I had a baby chimp born two months premature.
Premature baby chimps cannot digest formula.
And he wasn't doing good.
He was dying.
But I just had my daughter, Dallas, so I did what came natural.
He's a baby that needs feeding, feed it, you know?
I come in one day
and she's got Dallas on one booby and the chimp on the other.
And I go, "Whoa, what are you doing?"
I really didn't know what I was doing.
And then, to have two of 'em it's like twins, really.
Next thing you know, it's in the "Enquirer,"
and then "Star," and oh, my God. "Baby chimp saved by breastfeeding mum."
One for you and one for you.
He was very gentle. He was very kind.
No, this is the same.
We were like brother and sister so much
that the instant that a boy would like me, he knew and he would be mean to that boy.
He would throw poop at him.
I can't imagine my life without him. It would have been very different.
Monkey, monkey, monkey!
To me, they're my life.
They're my life's love. They were my first love.
I wouldn't want to have my life without a chimp in it.
I love you. I love you with everything I got.
Go ahead, you can have your drink.
Yes!
For a long time, it was Connie Casey. She has chimpanzees.
But it's too bad, because it's the end of a dynasty.
She lives in Festus, Missouri and she doesn't want the attention.
Missouri is one of the few states
where you can do pretty much anything with animals.
There are exotic animal auctions
and very few restrictions on the kinds of things
that are not allowed elsewhere,
including what Connie Casey was doing big time,
which was breeding chimpanzees at her enclave,
Missouri Primate Foundation.
Back in 2010, I was the last journalist
who talked with Connie.
Oh, yeah. Oh, sure.
I've been documenting exotic animal people for over 15 years.
This is the monkey's closet.
So this is formal wear.
The monkeys have more clothing than I have.
- Really? - Yeah.
- Are you sure? - Really, yeah.
I don't have this many shirts.
Ay, que linda.
Exotic animal people are generally distrustful
of outsiders.
I've been an animal person my entire life, so gaining access to this community
has been pretty easy for me.
But this time, it's different.
In 2020, I made "Tiger King."
And do you wear these yourself?
I don't wear underwear.
- You don't wear underwear? - No, free ball it.
"Tiger King" shined a spotlight on this community
and it wasn't favorable.
That's a brand-new shirt.
And now, people like Connie Casey,
for the most part, don't want anything to do with me.
- Hey. - Hey.
I'm on the road to Connie Casey's.
I don't know, this doesn't look too friendly.
I think I'm gonna go
and think about this for a minute.
So, for this project, I had to hire a proxy director
to go undercover.
Alright, so listen.
I'll follow you guys.
- Okay. - But I'll be discreet.
- You won't see-- - My car's discreet, okay?
- Okay. - Alright.
This is our exit.
- See this fence? - Yep!
- Yep, that's it. - That's it.
- Good morning. - Good morning.
How are you?
- 3:30, you said? - Yeah, 3:30.
Hello?
Can you hear me?
Well, I'm Tonia Haddix.
Basically, I'm a nurse from St. Louis, Missouri.
I came down here to Missouri Primate Foundation
to help Connie Casey preserve the chimpanzees
that she still held.
Connie is a legacy. She has a legacy that is greater
than anybody could ever, ever imagine.
She is a world-renowned chimp person, basically responsible for three-quarters
of the captive-bred chimps
that are here in the United States currently.
So, I don't know where your best view would be to film,
is what I guess I'm asking.
There's Connie now.
No, wait.
I don't want her overwhelmed with everything.
Hey, you come here.
I know I don't know your name, and I know that sounds rude.
Connie, I'm Dwayne Cunningham. It's a pleasure and honor to meet you.
We just thought people needed to hear your story,
and at the very least we can get it out in the court of public opinion.
Maybe you have the wrong credentials
for a million things, but for this, Dwayne,
it's almost like not playing a role at all 'cause you know this world.
You have no idea.
Ringling Brothers and Barnum...
I went to Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey
Circus Clown College, class of 1975.
I got to work with their animals every day.
And then I became involved in the animal industry
for pretty much my entire life.
Hi, I'm Dr. Wasabi, and I know what you're thinking.
"Penguins?"
Also, I've had a relationship
with the federal government over exotic animals.
So, when you called me and said,
"Be the point person, get inside and see what was going on,"
I mean, that's right up my alley.
- You're gonna look great. - Oh, thank you.
Once they knew my background,
they weren't skeptical of my presence.
- I don't wanna be on camera. - Sure.
At that point, it seemed like Connie Casey was like, exhausted.
Exhausted physically, exhausted mentally.
But Tonia comes in, and the more I listened to her...
...the more I thought, "It's a love story."
She does really good work.
Her stuff looks natural instead of it looking really crazy.
'Cause I could go crazy, you guys know that.
Everybody compares me to Dolly.
I don't know why. But they do.
I'm the Dolly Parton of the chimps.
Or I'm the crazy monkey lady. Whatever.
I owned capuchin monkeys for about 20 years.
I love the capuchins, but I had always wanted a chimp.
A chimp's even way better than a capuchin.
You can shape them into being you.
So, I was like, "You know what?
"I can afford one and my kids are grown, so let's try to find a baby chimp."
Connie Casey was offering chimp encounters.
So, I had made an appointment.
It was the most rewarding and most amazing experience I ever had.
I wanted to go back. I was ready to go pay 300 more dollars.
Connie lived the life that I would love to have lived.
I mean, she's my idol, and she needed help.
So, I was just gonna volunteer one day a week.
And so, then it ended up three or four days,
and then it ended up five days, and then it ended up--
I didn't go home for months.
Then I ended up actually moving up here on property
25 feet from the chimps.
Chimps are my whole thing.
And thank God I went to Connie's five years ago,
or I never would have ever known.
That's the only time in my life that I've ever been happy.
I'm 53 years old, and them five years was the best five years of my life.
Oh, it's okay.
No?
We've got seven chimpanzees at the facility,
and each chimp is so individualistic, just like humans.
Connor is the Hallmark Greeting Card Chimp.
Born and bred at Connie's facility,
so he's never lived anyplace else.
Then, we have Tammy,
Kerry,
Mikayla, Candy, Crystal.
And then, there's Tonka.
Tonka did a lot of movies like "George of the Jungle"
and "Babe: Pig in the City."
It's okay...
See how-- as you notice,
they gravitate to what they feel secure, so...
- You're the mom. - Yeah, I'm the second mom.
Connie's the first mom, but yeah.
I've begged her to please, please, let's write a book,
to get her legacy down.
Connie's very closed, but slowly but surely,
I found out a lot about Connie and the chimps.
She got her first chimp in 1972.
His name was Coco. He was wild caught from Africa.
We would sit in a circle, my husband and I, and my three kids,
with little pieces of peanut, or raisin, or something in our mouth.
And he would just gently take it out of our mouth
with his lips.
We got a second chimp about a year and a half later.
Back then, it was easier to get 'em.
Coco and Bridget had their first baby, Bo,
and then they just had multiple babies.
As chimps get a little bit older, they become harder to handle.
So, people would contact Connie and say, "Hey, you know, I've got this chimp.
Are you interested in housing it?"
Little did I know that years later I'd have a house full of chimps.
Give me a kiss, give me some, give me some.
Give me some kisses.
I first started working with Connie in 2001.
It was very surreal.
Immediately, I was in love.
And I just knew that that was what I wanted to do.
I wanted to work there.
Hey, sweetie pie.
Connie was breeding and selling chimps as pets,
And every year, they would keep one.
That's what they would use for commercials or movies.
Did either of you stop and think about us?
That's all I've been thinking about, Pops.
Yeah, you too, Chim Chim.
I know of at least four generations,
if not five generations of Connie's chimps in Hollywood.
What in the hell?
You have to make sure to burp him.
He's just like a little baby.
When she remarried and Mike Casey
came into the picture, it just kind of grew.
I'd like to thank our special guest,
Kirby from Chimparty, and Mike.
He's the one that came up with the idea
to do the Hollywood stuff and the Chimparty chimps.
The monkey theme of Brittany Staub's
12th birthday party just climbed to new heights.
For a fee, Connie Casey, who owns a company called Chimparty,
will show up at your party with a baby chimp.
They made a lot of money.
There's three great apes, the gorilla,
the orangutan, and the chimpanzee.
That's how they were able to build big enclosures.
We hope to become a sanctuary and kind of a place for them to live.
The most expensive undertaking is this $350,000 facility.
It's Connie and Mike's dream to provide this natural habitat.
These are Hallmark or American Greeting cards
that Connor did when he was a juvenile.
He did a lot of greeting cards for, like I said,
Hallmark and American Greeting.
Yes.
And a lot of 'em, if you flip 'em over on the back--
Now, this is American Greetings, so it doesn't say it,
but, like, the Hallmark greeting cards.
I always tell everybody, if you're gonna buy a chimp card,
be sure it's a Connor card.
These are all American Greetings.
If you turn them over, on the back,
it'll say "Chimparty Chimp, Festus, Missouri,"
so you know it's one of our greeting cards.
"Sorry, he was the only male stripper I could afford.
Happy birthday."
Coming out of a cake.
Actually, coming out of a present.
He's probably the most notorious chimp for--
as far as greeting cards. He probably did the most.
Snack-wise, they love the licorice.
They love marshmallows.
The drinks is the biggest thing.
I know!
That facility housed 42 chimps at one time.
One time, there was 42 chimps in that facility.
I'm telling you, it's like potato chips.
You can't just have one, and you can't just not have one.
Back then, they had plenty of money to take care of the chimps that they had.
But then, when things started falling out...
You'd have thought James Dean or Leonardo DiCaprio
had just entered the room.
Women were falling all over each other
trying to get close to Kirby.
He's cute, I want to take him home.
I worked for Chimparty for years.
And after seeing the whole thing,
it was not what I thought it was gonna be.
The seven-year-old chimp suddenly grabbed a toddler's foot.
I don't believe Kirby meant any harm by it.
We have never ever had any problem--
Oh, you want to say hi, too?
We've never ever had any problem with Kirby.
But chimps are chimps, and people are people,
and sometimes in situations, we can be just as dangerous as they are.
I heard a story about a chimp named Bo.
Mike went into Bo's cage, and in the blink of an eye,
Bo ran up, bit his nose off, completely off of his face.
Connie had to go back into the cage and find the nose.
A couple years later, Bo had died.
I asked, "How?"
And Connie said of natural causes.
But he was very young.
There were older chimps that weren't doing parties.
They didn't get a lot of attention.
They sit in a cage and do nothing
all day long.
In my work as a journalist, I've seen a lot.
Disasters, wars, murders.
But nothing prepared me for walking into Connie Casey's compound
and seeing a ghastly prison for chimpanzees.
She was operating the equivalent of a puppy mill.
As there became an awareness of what was going on
at places such as Chimparty, efforts were made to cleanse it,
the equivalent of greenwashing.
Connie did finally decide to go nonprofit
and change Chimparty into Missouri Primate Foundation,
which was a 501(3).
But nothing was different.
I was just overwhelmed with grief. I felt so sorry for the chimps.
I used to talk to the chimps like I'm talking to you,
and I would tell them that,
"Someday, you're not gonna be here anymore."
So, I called PETA.
The animal rights group
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
dumping two tons of manure outside the offices
of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus last night.
PETA's mission is to protect animals from abuse,
neglect, and cruelty, it really is that simple.
For the animals, we will fight!
How does Chrysler sleep at night?!
They're a great inspiration to so many people and so many activists.
I think I'd fuck a croissant.
PETA's got very good, very potent,
and very, you know, eye-catching campaigns.
Set them free. Set them free.
Set them free! Set them free!
In water, humans drown, just as fish suffocate on land.
Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!
And of course, showing people that activism brings results.
PETA says it finally convinced SeaWorld to end riding on dolphins.
Ringling Brothers will start phasing elephants out of its circus acts.
Like any great successful organization, they are very polarizing.
But if your job is to get people's attention
and to make change about issues that you feel need to be changed...
...by necessity, you're gonna piss people off.
The Great Ape, forced to perform on television
and in motion pictures for decades.
Could you live this life?
Thank you very much.
I'm here today because 21 years ago I made a film and met this little man.
The film was called "Buddy," and I played...
In 1996, I did a film called "Buddy."
The story of the film is about a woman who has chimps,
but it's really about the fact that,
you know, you can't tame wild things.
You have to let them be themselves. You have to let them go.
Do you know where it is? It's in Joe's ear.
The best thing for me was I just got to cuddle chimps
all day long.
Tonka was one of the chimps, and we just sort of fell in love.
Yeah, now that's much better.
Okay, then. Cheer up, big man.
Every morning, I would walk on the set
and I would see him kind of just so excited to see me,
and looking at his trainer and look-- just like, you know,
he couldn't leave his chair, but he really wanted--
and the trainer would go, "Okay," and he would run across the set
and leap into my arms.
It was magical.
And in Scotland we have a word for it called "couthie."
If an animal or a person is couthie,
it means they're kind of, you know, they kind of come into you like that
in their personality as well as their physicality.
They kind of-- that's couthie, they just want to be like that with you.
And he was, Tonka was couthie.
Tonka was about five at that time, and I didn't know that then,
but that was kind of at the end of the time
that you can actually have a sort of domesticated chimp.
My understanding of what happened to Tonka
after his Hollywood career ended was that he retired to Palm Springs.
That's what I was told.
And every time I would go to Palm Springs,
'cause I always think of Palm Springs as like,
old people and gay people.
And then retired chimps was added to my list.
So, I kind of always expected to sort of bump into him.
I'd done a few campaigns with PETA.
And then they said to me that they had found this place in Missouri
where these chimps are being kept in very poor,
terrible conditions, and that one of them was Tonka.
And they showed me a picture of him in this inside cage
looking kinda-- it was really...
Just, it was really upsetting.
Once they've done their thing in showbiz,
and anyone could buy them in, you know, all these awful roadside zoos
and things like that that you see.
PETA asked me to join them in this campaign
to try and get those chimps out.
I just hope that Tonka will be able to have the retirement
that I thought he was going to have.
I knew that PETA was going after Connie
and her chimps.
Thank you.
So I felt like this is an opportunity to do what I've always wanted to do.
- Who's that? - It's Candy.
Hi, sweetie.
PETA gave me these glasses that had a camera,
and they just said, "Get as much footage as you can."
Hi.
In my mind, I kept telling myself, "You are betraying somebody that you love.
You know what's gonna happen after this goes public."
It was-- I can't even describe how-- I hated myself.
I hate the fact that I had to hurt somebody
to help somebody else.
I thought Connie was a very nice person,
and she would tell me how much she loved her chimps.
They had made their bedroom into a cage
so that the younger chimps could stay in there with them.
You got Baba?
And she genuinely seemed to love chimps.
It's just, I guess we have different definitions of what love is.
Hi.
Here, you wanna do a selfie?
Hi.
The chimpanzees were being held in virtually barren enclosures,
strewn with trash and their own waste,
and this was frankly unlawful.
So, in 2017, we decided to proceed with a lawsuit
alleging that these conditions in which the chimpanzees
were held constituted a violation of the Endangered Species Act.
The lawsuit that PETA brought
wasn't just about saying, "We're taking the chimps away."
It was saying, "We want you to keep these chimps,
"provided you make these changes in their conditions
and the way they're looked after."
That's their motif.
I could tell you verbatim how they handle a case,
and every case is a cookie-cutter case.
That's my terminology. They use the same forms,
they use the same brutality tactics.
They don't want to fix your problems.
They just want to run you out of money to get your animals from you.
I started working at Connie's
approximately six months after PETA filed the lawsuit.
I never even drove one of these until I came here.
I'm from the city, I don't do this kind of stuff.
PETA did a 365-page report with a professional veterinarian
saying we have all these really serious problems.
Shit.
And I decided I'm gonna fix everything on that 365-page report.
Just 'cause it was old doesn't mean you can't fix it up.
Watch yourself. 'Cause he's gonna bang.
Connie was very anxious to spend all this money
to fight to keep her babies.
I said, "Don't worry about it, they're your kids.
"How can they take your kids? I mean, this is America.
"You know, the judicial system will protect us
'cause we haven't done anything wrong, they're your kids."
You want more snacks? You got to do more. No, more.
No, not with your foot, you got to do more snack.
More, good boy. More snack, good boy.
Connie was getting donated old produce. That was one of PETA's concerns.
Now, they get fresh veggies mainly.
Sugar snap peas, zucchini squash, little peppers,
eggs for protein.
Primarily all this stuff is bought from Walmart.
Tonia Haddix would regularly post improvements
that they were making to the facility on her Facebook page.
Things like putting up a new hammock or repainting.
If I was guesstimating how much I've spent up here
from start to finish, I'd say half a million dollars.
Absolutely nothing approaching a half a million dollars' worth of work.
I worked my butt off.
But PETA never came out to see the improvements,
never came out to see the quality of life with these chimps,
'cause they don't really give a shit about the chimps.
All they want is their agenda furthered,
which is to have no animals in people's care.
Come.
PETA has no empathy for the person that owns the animals,
or the love that they have for those animals.
And that's what people just really can't understand.
I fell in love with those kids.
Come on.
Come on, ready, ready, ready, ready, ready, ready.
Ready, ready, ready, ready, ready, ready, ready!
Come on!
It's just like every day, you wake up into a new world.
What, Candy Cane? What, baby girl?
They don't break your heart.
They're eager to please.
Can you hand me them papers?
Give me those papers, shove them suckers out there for me.
Thank you, boy.
They don't grow up and get a mind of their own.
Silly man, silly man! Can you show me your teeth?
Show me them nasty old teeth of yours, boy!
They'll be your friend for life.
Nice to meet you, Tonka. Tonka, can you clap?
Especially Tonka.
Stick out your tongue. Are you gonna show me that?
Tonka was 38 years old, and he was my best friend.
You even got a smile on your face, boy.
Them chimps just suck you in. They suck you in so quick.
Turn around.
You want me to scratch your back?
I may sit out there for hours with them until 4 or 5 in the morning,
and then I'd go sleep for a few hours, get up and go clean their cages.
It was my ultimate dream.
You want my shoe again? Oh my goodness, he's so crazy.
You want them shoes? You're crazy.
Any time they do that noise, they're happy.
Eventually, I just said to Connie,
"Sign 'em over to me."
And I said, "I'll take the grunt of the lawsuit."
There is no apparent reason for Tonia Haddix
to have taken ownership of the chimpanzees other than to try to moot our lawsuit
and get it kicked out of court
because the owner of the chimpanzees was not a party.
So, we were forced to join her into the lawsuit in 2019.
And that certainly kept it interesting.
I'm trying to clean this cage, so I need to lock him out of this cage.
But I was gonna lock this door and this door
because he's strong.
Okay, that's a battle lost.
Out of all the chimps, I would not want to encounter him.
Huh, boy? Huh, Kerry?
You see the power of Kerry in this interaction.
See, just like right there, tried to grab me.
But see, I'm aware of that, so I know what to do with him.
Kerry is the one who escaped right here
on Highway CC outside Festus.
Oh, my God, he's getting in-- Oh, he's robbing that-- Oh, my God.
Tonight on the Fox Files,
an escaped chimpanzee in Festus. It shocked people...
You can see the animal try to get into a car.
After Tonia Haddix became the legal owner
of the chimpanzees, there were issues still arising
at the Missouri Primate Foundation,
because she is not qualified to care for chimpanzees.
She does not have any formal training.
She's simply someone who likes chimpanzees.
I have a rule of thumb. I never walk away from a cage
unless I've got a lock on it. Period, end of story.
'Cause it'd be so easy to get called away, and then the locks be off,
and there's no safeties on these doors.
So, then you'd have loose chimps.
A controversial primate facility in Festus
is under fire once again.
A male and female chimpanzee
escaped early Sunday afternoon.
It appears there was an unsecured lock on the cages.
During the course of this case,
chimpanzees escaped from the facility twice.
Remarkably, Tonia Haddix's response
was that PETA might have sent someone there
to unlock the cages.
That's how delusional she is.
Tonia's deadline to have all the improvements completed
came and went.
She never formally presented any of the changes
that she made to the Festus facility.
It simply didn't happen.
So, we filed several motions to transfer
all seven of the chimpanzees to an accredited sanctuary.
All of these animals have been captive-bred,
so they can't just be simply released into the wild.
The best we can do is to put them in a setting
that approximates their natural environment.
You know, she had her chance, and she blew it.
That's really where it all went wrong for her.
Alright, Tonia.
Morning, we're at the federal courthouse here in St. Louis.
We have a contempt hearing this morning.
- Right. - How's your head?
What are you feeling?
- And you just go. - Okay.
Alright? And you smell great, by the way.
Thank you.
My eyes are-- I was up all night with the attorney.
Okay. Whenever you're ready.
Well, I was up all night with the attorneys.
They worked all hours.
We put five more motions in this morning.
Best case scenario, PETA can't take the chimps,
and we can try to fight this fair and square.
Worst case scenario would be that I end up in jail today
until they come get the chimps.
I'm not saying I'm not a little nervous, 'cause who wouldn't be?
But the fact of it is, is I stand up for what I believe in.
And I believe in those chimps,
so that's all I care about at this point, truthfully.
The animal rights group PETA
successfully won a court order to have the Festus chimps
moved to an accredited animal sanctuary in Florida.
A new court order says all the chimps must go.
Cameras are prohibited
from being on the Festus property during this seizure.
The judge found Tonia Haddix in civil contempt,
ultimately ordering that all seven of the chimpanzees
be transferred to accredited sanctuaries.
I love these chimps more than anything in the world,
and I mean more than anything.
More than my kids, more than anything.
What I'm worried about is do they think that we abandon them?
You know, they have a lot of huge intellectual statuses.
So how do we know what they're gonna feel?
And I know they're gonna grieve. I know they're gonna have issues.
I appreciate it, Tonia, thank you. I'll be in touch when it's gonna be on.
- It might not be tonight. - Okay. Okay.
That'll be great, thank you.
I'm not giving up, I can tell you that much.
I'm not. 'Til the fat lady sings, I'm gonna try to beat PETA.
There he is. There's the little fucker now.
The United States Marshal Service will be present just to ensure a smooth transfer.
We're hopeful that there will be no hiccups.
We're looking to finally just move these chimpanzees
to this professional sanctuary environment.
- Okay, thank you, sir. - Thank you.
- It was good seeing you. - Good seeing you.
I'll let you know when it's gonna run.
Okay.
The good news is they didn't take her away in handcuffs.
Although, the judge said that Tonia has to stay
two miles away from the compound as the move takes place.
We are just prepping the chimps for PETA to come on property
to take the possession of the chimps starting 8 a.m. tomorrow.
It's gonna be the toughest thing we've ever gone through.
For me, at least.
Yeah.
Candy Cane's joining in on the conversation.
She wants to say, "PETA, you're stupid for taking us."
PETA said that they can't wait to get them transferred to a professional sanctuary.
I have to be off the property at 8 p.m.,
so, per PETA's orders, believe it or not.
And...
So, we'll have to shut out the lights at 8:00, but
we're gonna spend as much time with them as we can.
You know what, we should get Happy Meals today.
That's their favorite. Yeah, they would love 'em.
They love chicken nugget Happy Meals. I mean, love them.
One more.
You like them fries? If you want 'em, have 'em...
You get to know each chimp, and that's the sad part,
is that they're taking them from the only home they know
with the caregivers that know them their whole life
and know what they're about, and...
putting 'em in a situation
that they won't even know nothing about 'em.
See, Candy don't like me crying.
And Connor don't. They know.
They know.
They know I love them more than anything in this world.
They know.
I've spent many years with these guys,
taking care of them every day, even whenever I've been sick.
They know.
Huh, Candy Cane?
We can take you no further than right here,
the front of Connie Casey's property on State Road CC in Festus.
The U.S. Marshals are here, accompanied by local law enforcement
to watch over the seizure of chimpanzees.
We're trespassing?
Yeah, you can't come on property until we're done.
Yeah, that'd be technically off the property.
Okay.
- So, nothing in here though? - No.
But they would be darting in here?
Yes.
Yeah.
The chimps are there, and the chimps are on
the other side there.
Here comes somebody.
I hated the fact that they had to be scared at all,
because they had to dart them all one by one
and put them in the truck.
But I'm very happy.
Do you have any regrets?
I wish I had done it sooner.
That's all.
The rescue went smoothly, and Tonia Haddix didn't show up.
But there was one major problem.
There was a chimpanzee missing.
The fight over Festus chimpanzees
should be over, except for new revelations.
The chimpanzee lady now making national news.
A movie star chimp named Tonka
and its disappearance.
It all has the makings of a Hollywood plot,
but no, this is real life.
People fall in love with these chimps.
And you know, when you're in love, your brain is out of control.
There's chemicals and hormones and things happening to you
that makes you irrational.
Once I had chimps,
there was no way I could do without one.
I'll do anything and everything to keep them kids.
I've got to take every chance I've got, 'cause you know what?
We might get lucky.