Bucks for Bow! PETA Offers $10,000 Reward for Tips That Help Free Exploited Chimpanzee From Local Vlogger
For Immediate Release:
September 9, 2024
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
On the heels of Sunday’s finale of Chimp Crazy—the HBO docuseries that highlights the dangers and cruelty inherent in private ownership of chimpanzees—PETA is offering a $10,000 reward for evidence that results in the confiscation by law-enforcement authorities of Bow the chimpanzee from the custody of Raymondville resident Aya Katz. Bow is the last remaining solitary chimpanzee in a private home in the U.S.
Katz confines Bow to a barren pen in her home—one similar to cages that Tonka the chimpanzee was held captive in—and exploits him in paid videos on YouTube. She doesn’t have the federal license required to exhibit animals and was cited by U.S. government officials just last year for a violation of the federal Animal Welfare Act following a complaint from PETA.
“Chimp Crazy shows that powerful primates aren’t playthings, and disaster could strike at any minute as long as Bow remains in Katz’s clutches,” says PETA Foundation General Counsel Brittany Peet. “PETA has already rescued several chimpanzees from private homes and assisted in their transfer to accredited sanctuaries and is now asking the public to help us rescue Bow—before it’s too late.”
A screen capture from a YouTube video posted by Katz
PETA has facilitated the rescues of 24 chimpanzees—including seven who, having been held in solitary confinement, were given the opportunity to thrive in a sanctuary environment with other chimpanzees. The group encourages everyone to support the bipartisan Captive Primate Safety Act, which would ban private ownership, private breeding, and all commercial activity involving primates used in the pet trade. Anyone with information can report tips using this web form.
Last week, PETA sent a letter to the U.S. departments of Agriculture and Justice urging federal authorities to remove Bow from Katz’s home and pointing out that keeping a member of a highly social species in solitary confinement, as Katz does, likely constitutes a violation of the Endangered Species Act.
The group is also offering reward money for information leading to the confiscation of Limbani, a chimpanzee held in isolation at the Zoological Wildlife Foundation, a roadside zoo in Miami, and Ricky, a chimpanzee exploited for photo shoots and commercials by the notorious exhibitor Pam Rosaire. The reward also applies to any of the other (fewer than 100) chimpanzees across the country who are still languishing in roadside zoos or in the pet trade.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
