51黑料

Jefferson County sheriff鈥檚 deputies and the U.S. Marshals Service oversaw the removal of the chimps out of concern their caretaker Tonia Haddix or others would try to block the effort. The heavy law enforcement presence also was meant to ensure compliance with a .

Haddix told the Post-Dispatch last month that she had no plans to comply with a different that said she had to turn over the chimps. That order followed a 2020 consent decree she signed with PETA in which she agreed to turn over four chimps and would have been allowed to keep three at a facility she was to build.

The July 14 order barred Haddix from a two-mile radius of the Missouri Primate Foundation facility at 12338 County Road CC, near Festus, and banned either side in the fight from revealing the day and time of the chimp transfer. An area resident alerted the Post-Dispatch to the transfer.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry said she was concerned about statements by Haddix that could be interpreted as 鈥渢hreats of violence鈥� and warned Haddix that she would be jailed if all the chimps were not present.

One chimp, 38-year-old Tonka, died last month, Haddix said, but PETA has questioned the lack of documentation of the death or the chimp鈥檚 purported cremation.

The chimps were removed in a large trailer just before 1 p.m. Deputies and marshals kept journalists and onlookers off the property, which is behind tall chain-link fences with privacy screens and 鈥渘o trespassing鈥� signs. Three people securing a gate and the privacy screen after the convoy of vehicles left declined to comment.

Haddix did not return a message Wednesday. Jared Goodman, a PETA lawyer, said in an email that, 鈥淧ETA鈥檚 rescue team is focused on carrying out the federal court order to remove all chimpanzees from the Festus facility. Details will be available after the rescue is complete.鈥�

The chimps鈥� removal came a day after the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused an emergency request to put it on hold. After the chimps already were gone, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh also denied a stay.

The case started in 2016 when PETA claimed that chimps were being held in at the facility and their treatment violated the federal Endangered Species Act. The group said they鈥檇 been contacted by a former volunteer.

Haddix has said she became involved in the care of the chimps, and the lawsuit, when the primate facility鈥檚 founder, Connie Braun Casey, became unable to care for them because of her health.

The foundation cared for rescued chimps and retired zoo animals. Casey and her then-husband also ran Chimparty, which supplied chimps for parties, commercials and other activities.

Under the consent decree she signed, Haddix agreed to send four chimps 鈥� Tammy, Connor, Candy and Kerry 鈥� to the in Wauchula, Florida. She was allowed to keep Crystal, Mikayla and Tonka in a facility she was to build in mid-Missouri.

But PETA repeatedly complained that Haddix was not complying with the consent decree, triggering a series of court hearings this year. At an April hearing in U.S. District Court in 51黑料, Perry ruled for the first time that she had violated the decree. Perry repeatedly warned Haddix of the consequences of continuing to flout the decree.

Haddix has said she and Casey were on probation in Jefferson County after several chimp escapes last year. In 2001, a teenage neighbor fatally shot a chimp, 28-year-old Suzie, after she escaped from an unlocked cage. That teen was sentenced to 30 days in jail after Casey said at his trial that Suzie had been tranquilized with a dart and was sitting peacefully when she was shot. The teen claimed Suzie was threatening him, his friends and his dog.

Haddix had been representing herself in court in the PETA case, despite suggestions from Perry that she get a lawyer to help. Earlier this month, Haddix said she鈥檇 contacted 85 attorneys without luck.

In a phone interview last week, Haddix told the Post-Dispatch that she was put in connection with a California lawyer who took on her case 鈥渂ecause nobody in 51黑料 had enough guts to take it.鈥�

Haddix said that she signed the consent decree 鈥渦nder duress鈥� and said PETA knew that she was being overzealous and would have difficulty complying with the terms under the mandated timeline. The California lawyer did not return a message seeking comment.

Goodman, the PETA lawyer, said earlier in court that, 鈥淢s. Haddix, throughout, has seemed to think she can continue to negotiate whenever she came to court.鈥�

Haddix called PETA鈥檚 efforts to remove the chimps part of a larger effort to target what they refer to as 鈥渞oadside zoos鈥� and she calls 鈥減rivate zoos.鈥� Haddix has been inviting documentary filmmakers and others to the primate facility in hopes of raising awareness of the case, she said.

Haddix said she was dreading the chimps鈥� removal, saying, 鈥淚鈥檝e had nightmare after nightmare, night after night,鈥� about a chimp escaping or being injured.

鈥淚 love these kids, and I just want them to be treated fairly,鈥� she said.