Who is Connie Casey? HBO's 'Chimp Crazy' exposes dark secrets behind Missouri’s wild ‘family business’
Contains spoilers for 'Chimp Crazy'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Eric Goode, director of 'Tiger King', is back with another docuseries, titled 'Chimp Crazy', revisiting PETA's fruitful attempts at saving chimpanzees that were held captive for entertainment purposes in Missouri. While Tonia Haddix is the focus of the four-part series, it also highlights Connie Casey, the woman who first introduced Haddix to her love for chimpanzees.
If anyone ever wanted to buy chimpanzees in America, they would have to come to Casey, explains HBO's 'Chimp Crazy'. She bred the chimps at her enclave, Missouri Primate Foundation, organized animal auctions, and offered the chimps for commercial purposes such as Hollywood movies and personal events.
Connie Casey housed dozens of chimpanzees in Missouri
For Connie Casey, chimpanzees were supposedly like her children. She got her first chimp in 1972 from Africa and named him Coco. A year later, she brought home another chimp named Bridget. Over the years, the chimp family extended and she lived with them at her enclave.
While the older chimpanzees were kept in the cages outside, the younger ones often lived in her own room that was customized accordingly. At one point, she housed 42 chimps under her care, reveals the HBO docuseries. She and her second husband Mike Casey shared a common love for exotic animals. He came up with the idea to send their chimps to Hollywood, which brought them immense wealth. Connie Casey also owned 'ChimParty', a company that offered baby chimps for events like birthday parties.
What happened to Connie Casey's 'ChimParty'?
Connie Casey's downfall began when there were cases of her pet chimps attacking humans. At a party, her chimp named Kirby suddenly grabbed a toddler's foot. Though no serious damage was done, it was realized that chimps could be dangerous.
Angela Scott told Eric Goode that a chimp even broke off Mike Casey's nose and Connie had to go back into the cage to grab the nose. The rising incidents made Angela Scott realize that this family business of Casey wasn't ethical. She eventually tipped off PETA and helped them obtain inside information so that the chimps could get a better place to live.
Casey turned her chimp-entertainment business into a non-profit organization and named it Missouri Primate Foundation. Sadly, the name was the only thing that changed while the conditions of the chimps remained the same.
PETA filed a lawsuit against Connie Casey's foundation
In 2017, PETA filed a lawsuit against Connie Casey's foundation, accusing her of violating the Endangered Species Act. Six months after the lawsuit, when Tonia Haddix joined Casey, she tried to bring changes as per PETA's report that highlighted the concerns of everything that they found troubling about the foundation. From cleaner cages to fresh vegetables, she brought improvements and posted them on Facebook.
Meanwhile, Connie Casey ran out of money to keep up with the rising expenditures after the lawsuit. This is when Tonia Haddix stepped up to take the seven chimps under her care, including the legal battle with PETA.
Tonia Haddix eventually lost custody of the chimps as the court ordered the transfer of the captive chimps to an animal sanctuary in Florida.
How to stream 'Chimp Crazy'?
'Chimp Crazy' Episode 1 premiered on Max on Sunday, August 18. The streaming platform will release a fresh episode every Sunday until its conclusion on September 8.
Fans can stream 'Chimp Crazy' upon purchasing or renewing the membership of Max which comes at a minimum price of $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year.
'Chimp Crazy' trailer