CNN
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After a tip led authorities to 2 emperor tamarin monkeys believed to have been taken from the Dallas Zoo, questions stay about their temporary disappearance and an unidentified man authorities need to converse with.
The monkeys went lacking Monday and had been discovered a day later inside a closet in an deserted house in Lancaster, about 15 miles from the zoo, police mentioned. They released a photo of a monkey within the closet, standing atop what appeared like fencing.
“We’re thrilled past perception to share that our two emperor tamarin monkeys have been discovered,” the Dallas Zoo mentioned Tuesday night. “They are going to be evaluated by our veterinarians this night.”
Their short-lived disappearance adopted a latest sequence of suspicious incidents on the zoo involving a leopard, langur monkeys and a vulture, all of which have led to a hike in safety.
In the meantime, a Louisiana zoo reported the weekend theft of 12 squirrel monkeys.
Because the investigation in Dallas continues into how precisely the tamarin monkeys made it from the zoo to the deserted house, right here’s what we all know in regards to the case thus far:
The Dallas Zoo discovered Monday the duo of emperor tamarin monkeys was lacking from their enclosure, it mentioned.
Dallas police concluded the monkeys’ habitat was deliberately lower open, and it was “believed the animals had been deliberately taken from the enclosure,” they mentioned.
The zoo was closed Monday as a consequence of inclement climate, it earlier had introduced, with the closure prolonged by way of Wednesday as a consequence of an ice storm.
How the animals left the zoo and bought the deserted home in Lancaster remains to be a thriller.
Police on Tuesday launched surveillance video and a photo of an unidentified man they mentioned they had been looking for and need to interview. Police haven’t mentioned why they need to converse to him or when the footage was recorded, and so they’ve requested the general public to contact them at 214-671-4509 with any info.
The surveillance video exhibits a person strolling slowly down an almost empty zoo sidewalk, trying backwards and forwards as he strikes. One other particular person is seen within the background strolling in the other way.
The photo shows a person sporting a navy hooded sweatshirt and a navy and purple beanie cap whereas consuming a bag of Doritos.
A number of different unusual developments with animals have unfolded in latest weeks on the Dallas Zoo.
A clouded leopard named Nova disappeared January 13, and the zoo closed to seek for the animal.
Police launched a prison investigation after they discovered the fence round Nova’s enclosure had been “deliberately lower,” they mentioned. Later that day, Nova was discovered close to her habitat.
In the meantime, zoo workers noticed an identical lower to the enclosure of some langur monkeys, however none of them had escaped, the zoo mentioned.
Police didn’t instantly decide whether or not the 2 incidents had been associated.
The incidents prompted the zoo to ramp up safety, together with putting in extra cameras and boosting in a single day safety personnel and staffing, its president and CEO Gregg Hudson mentioned. Restrictions had been additionally positioned on animals’ skill to go outdoors in a single day, he added.
Then, a lappet-faced vulture named Pin was discovered useless January 21 in his habitat. “Circumstances of the demise are uncommon, and the demise doesn’t seem like from pure causes,” the zoo mentioned in an announcement.
The chicken’s demise was “suspicious” and it suffered “an uncommon wound and accidents,” Hudson mentioned.
The zoo is providing a $10,000 reward for info resulting in the arrest and indictment of a suspect within the vulture’s demise.