'Chimp Crazy' Tonka is Safe After Florida Floods
'Chimp Crazy' Tonka Safe After Florida Floods
Published
The Florida sanctuary where beloved chimpanzee Tonka lives has been rocked by floods ... but the "Chimp Crazy" star is safe and sound.
Dan Mathews, Director of Events and Special Projects for Save the Chimps, tells TMZ … Save the Chimps got 19 inches of rain in 12 hours.
Mathews tells us ... all the chimps were brought inside except one named Kaleb. He says they weren’t able to get to him during the flooding and have been giving him items via drone.
We're told Tonka rode out the storm alongside 15 other chimps in the care house, and had a blast hanging out with fellow chimp, Kippy.
While the chimps are all doing just fine in the wake of the wild weather, Mathews tells TMZ the sanctuary's got a lot of damage.
He says Save the Chimps hasn't seen such intense flooding for the 25 years it's been in Fort Pierce.
The sanctuary's still assessing the damage, but Mathews estimates they're looking at over $100K in damage ... and they're turning to the public for financial help.
He says they need to re-surface the road around the property, fill in sinkholes, repair their buggy, replace their golf carts, repair roofs, re-landscape several parts of the refuge, and more.
He says the rain stopped on Tuesday and the water's gone down ... but it still hasn't gone away.
