PETA Lawyer in “Chimp Crazy” Shares How Viewers 'Walking Away Angry' Can Help Captive Primates (Exclusive)

PETA attorney Brittany Peet shares how support for the Captive Primate Safety Act can change the lives of animals like Tonka the chimpanzee

Chimp Crazy has ended, but PETA's goal to stop the private ownership of primates continues.

The HBO docuseries Chimp Crazy, directed by Tiger King's Eric Goode, followed the story of Tonka, a privately-owned chimpanzee who appeared in the films George of the Jungle, Babe: Pig in the City, and Buddy — where he acted alongside Alan Cumming. After maturing out of entertainment work, he started residing full-time at a primate breeding facility that later became the nonprofit Missouri Primate Foundation (MPF) (previously known as Chimparty).

PETA filed a lawsuit in 2017 against MPF, alleging that MPF's living conditions for its chimpanzees, including Tonka, violated the Endangered Species Act. Eventually, a judge ordered that Tonka and the six other chimps at MPF be moved to sanctuaries. But when sheriff's deputies and U.S. Marshals arrived at the facility, located in Festus, Missouri, in 2021, Tonka wasn't there. His current owner, Tonia Haddix, claimed the primate was dead. Chimp Crazy revealed that Tonka was not dead but living in the basement of Haddix's home. After this information came to light, Tonka was transferred to Save the Chimps, a primate sanctuary in Florida, where he reunited with one of his sons.

Brittany Peet, general counsel for captive animal law enforcement at PETA, appears in Chimp Crazy and participated in PETA's legal battle to remove Tonka from MPF and Haddix's care.

"PETA has rescued, including the Missouri Primate Foundation chimpanzees and Tonka, 24 chimpanzees, and I've worked on all of those cases. Once captive chimpanzees became covered under the Endangered Species Act in 2015, we initiated the first lawsuit on behalf of a chimpanzee named Joe, who lived at the Mobile Zoo in Alabama. Joe also happens to be Tonka's brother," Peet tells PEOPLE.

The attorney adds that several chimpanzees she has helped move from private ownership to sanctuaries are related to Tonka, who was bred at MPF, including a primate with a Tiger King connection.

Related: Rescuers Save Neglected Dog 'Chained Outside 24/7' and Help the Pup Recover and Find Love

"We've also been involved in the rescues of Tonka's family, including his daughter Lisa-Marie, who we rescued from a basement in Chicago. And his dad, whose name is Bo, and he actually lived at Joe Exotic's roadside zoo," Peet says of PETA's work with captive chimpanzees.

On the subject of Tiger King, Peet adds that PETA hopes to replicate the swell of support for captive animals that it saw after the success of the Netflix show. In 2022, the Big Cat Public Safety Act, which prohibits the private possession of big cats, was enacted,

"That law was passed as a result of the massive momentum that Tiger King brought to this issue. So thanks to all of that, that law passed, and now your neighbor can't have a tiger in their backyard, which is really good news," Peet says.

Peet and PETA are optimistic Chimp Crazy can generate the same kind of interest for the Captive Primate Safety Act, a bill recently reintroduced in the U.S. House and Senate that seeks to prohibit the private ownership of non-human primates.

"Currently, there aren't any laws on the books at the federal level that regulate the private possession of chimpanzees as pets," Peet says.

Related: PETA Wants to Replace Punxsutawney Phil with a Coin: 'He Is Not a Meteorologist'

Chimpanzees and other primates now have some federal protections from the Animal Welfare Act and the Endangered Species Act.

According to Peet, these laws are "extremely poorly enforced, so it falls to organizations like PETA to step in on behalf of these types of animals."

"So we're hoping to use the momentum from Chimp Crazy as we did following Tiger King to get some more action on behalf of chimpanzees who are still in need in the United States," she adds, noting that the Captive Primate Safety Act "is a bipartisan federal bill that would prohibit the private possession of primates as well as the private commercial trade and breeding of primates for the pet trade. That would eliminate this industry altogether in the United States, which would prevent a massive amount of suffering for primates and people."

If the Captive Primate Safety Act does find the support it needs to become law, those who currently own primates as pets "will be allowed to keep them as long as they register them with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service," Peet shares.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

The PETA attorney encourages those interested in supporting the Captive Primate Safety Act "to call on their federal legislators to co-sponsor the bill."

"We've made it really easy. Folks can go to PETA.org, and we have a form there that you can fill out to find your federal legislators, and we can put you in contact with them directly via that form," she says.

Peet adds, "If everyone who is watching Chimp Crazy and is walking away angry, sad, or frustrated turns that passion into action by reaching out to their legislators, we can get this passed this year."

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.