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 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,” she wrote. “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?”
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.
