Chrissie Hynde Urges Michigan Roadside Zoo to Free Solitary Chimpanzees

As The Pretenders Play Grand Rapids, Singer Speaks Up for Great Apes in Upper Peninsula

For Immediate Release:
November 22, 2016

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Chrissie Hynde is using her band’s concert in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to call for the release of Louie and Tommy, two chimpanzees who are apparently being kept in solitary confinement at the controversial DeYoung Family Zoo.

“I may not be a social person, but chimps are—I urge you to release them to a sanctuary with access to their own kind,” writes Hynde, whose new album is called Alone.

The Pretenders play Van Andel Arena on Wednesday with Stevie Nicks. Hynde’s appeal is part of PETA’s campaign to free Louie and Tommy from their cruel conditions at the DeYoung Family Zoo, which you can read more about here. Her full letter is below.

Hynde’s letter to the owners of the DeYoung Family Zoo follows.

November 22, 2016

Bud DeYoung and Carrie Cramer

The DeYoung Family Zoo

N-5406 CR 577

Wallace, MI 49893

Dear Mr. DeYoung and Ms. Cramer,

I am on tour this month in Michigan and was saddened to learn from PETA that the chimpanzees Louie and Tommy remain in solitary confinement at the DeYoung Family Zoo. I may not be a social person, but chimps are—I urge you to release them to a sanctuary with access to their own kind. In the last few years, several small zoos have chosen to release solitary chimpanzees to accredited sanctuaries, where they can roam and enjoy life more as nature intended. Chimpanzees aren’t native to the Upper Peninsula. Won’t you release them to a sanctuary like Save the Chimps in Florida, where winters aren’t so harsh?

Sincerely,

Chrissie Hynde