Pretty Boy Floyd, the monkey on the loose in North Knoxville, has thus far outwitted his would-be captors. His owner said Thursday he's offering a "small reward" that's "liable to grow" to anyone who secures the safe return of his primate friend.

Bill King, an Army veteran who lives in Crossville, said his Black-capped Capuchin monkey serves as a kind of therapy animal to help him cope with his post-traumatic stress disorder and various other health problems.

"He's real close to me," King said. "He keeps me calmed down, and he can sit there and talk to you in his own language."

Lure, don't grab; he could be in a bad mood

Although the 57-year-old King is offering a reward of an unspecified amount, he advises aspiring monkey chasers not to try to grab Pretty Boy.

"These types of animals are only accustomed to one or two people," King said. "Anyone else, they’ll try to bite if you pick 'em up. With me, he's fine as long as he's not in a bad mood."

Instead, the proper technique is to lure the animal into a confined space with "marshmallows, grapes, watermelons, stuff like that," King said, adding that if Pretty Boy knocks on your door, you should let him in.

Then, call King at 931-314-5713.

"If somebody spots him and, say, they let him in the house, I can get him real easy as long as he’s in a house," King said. "He won’t mess up nothing."

The monkey, the myth, the legend

Pretty Boy escaped Sunday afternoon when King was in town to visit friends who live on Forestdale Avenue. King said he often travels with the monkey.

A neighbor's dog rushed at Pretty Boy when he was out of his cage. "That dog scared him, and when it scared him he took off," King said.

The first known sighting of Pretty Boy on the loose occurred Monday morning. The 3-year-old monkey boy appeared on the deck of Ron Merritt's home in the 2600 block of Washington Pike.

Merritt called animal control on Pretty Boy while his girlfriend gifted him some delectables.

More:Pet monkey named 'Pretty Boy Floyd' remains at large in North Knoxville

Animal control officers' nets were no match for Pretty Boy's swiftness, and traditional dog traps have proved ineffective.

"We are no longer looking for it," Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk said Tuesday, a day after he said apprehending a monkey is "beyond our experience."

At least four monkey sightings have since been reported: Two on Tuesday in the area of Washington Pike and Teeple Street near North Hills, one on Thursday night in the 2200 block of Washington Pike, and another on Friday evening on Adair Avenue.

"We heard something and looked over and he was right here," Rhonda Shipley said of Thursday's sighting. "I called the police. He just up and gone."

Shipley said Pretty Boy was sitting on a wood pallet by a fence near a line of trees, investigating a bag that once contained "Crazy Bread" from Little Caesars.

The pizza chain's slogan, "HOT-N-READY," could also describe Pretty Boy.

A few minutes too late, King rolled up in a large white cargo van, accompanied by his 14-year-old daughter. She grabbed the bread bag and inspected it.

"He's tore the bag all to pieces," King said, laughing.

On Friday, Alexis Donaldson snapped a photo of what appears to be Pretty Boy perched atop a truck parked at a recently vacated home on Adair Avenue.

She quickly posted the picture on Knoxville Crime — a Facebook group with more than 76,000 members — with the caption, "I'm with the monkey right now."

Almost immediately, she said, "People started running out of their houses with monkey nets."

"He was super smart," Donaldson gushed. "He jetted away from them."

As for King, he said he's traveled to and from Knoxville "every day this week" in hopes of reuniting with his pet.

"Right now, it’s just a hopeful deal," King said, but he's persistent. One of his foiled plots involved a friend bringing in a pretty girl monkey in an attempt to appeal to Pretty Boy's more prurient interests.

Reporter Travis Dorman can be reached at 865-342-6315 or at travis.dorman@knoxnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @travdorman.