Hollywood Scot Alan Cumming is offering an £8000 reward to help find a missing chimpanzee who starred with him in a movie.
The actor said he became “good friends” with ape Tonka while filming the 1997 family comedy Buddy, alongside Robbie Coltrane.
Tonka was last seen in a cage at a former chimpanzee breeding facility in Missouri, which was shut down after concerns were raised over animal welfare.
The creatures were bred at the location and rented out for movies and parties, or sold to private owners.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sued the Missouri Primate Foundation over their “filthy” living conditions.
The animal rights group got permission to move Tonka and six other chimpanzees to a sanctuary but Tonka was missing when they arrived to make the transfer in July 2021.
Cumming, 57, from Aberfeldy in Perthshire, said: “During the months we filmed together, baby Tonka and I became good friends, playing and grooming each other and just generally larking about.
“It’s horrible to think he might be in a cage in a dark basement somewhere or have met some other fate, so I’m appealing to whoever knows what has become of him to please come forward to claim the reward.”
PETA has also put up an £8000 reward for information about Tonka’s whereabouts.
Spokeswoman Brittany Peet added: “If he’s still alive, Tonka deserves to live out the rest of his days surrounded by chimpanzee friends at a lush sanctuary, as ordered by the court, and someone out there might be able to help PETA get him there.”
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