Breathe a sigh of relief at the Dallas Zoo: the two missing emperor tamarins are back in their enclosure. The man who stole them is arrested. The police free the two monkeys from a less species-appropriate hiding place.
Police have arrested a suspect after two emperor tamarins were stolen from a zoo in Dallas, Texas. The 24-year-old was arrested after being spotted at the Dallas Aquarium, police say. The man was taken to prison and is charged with six counts of animal cruelty.
The authorities had published a photo of a man in a hoodie after the disappearance of the monkeys at the beginning of the week. They received a tip Thursday that the man was around animals at the Dallas World Aquarium. When officers got there, the 24-year-old got on a tram. He was later arrested.
The disappearance of the emperor tamarins caused a stir on Monday - especially since there had been several mysterious incidents in the zoo in the weeks before. Dallas police said the monkeys' enclosure appeared to have been opened by a "deliberate cut." "Two monkeys are missing and it is believed the animals were taken out of the enclosure on purpose."
After a large-scale search, the police finally discovered the two animals in the closet of an empty house about 25 kilometers south of the Texas city. The tamarins were brought back to the zoo. Emperor tamarins are small primates native to the southwestern Amazon. Her name comes from her distinctive white mustache, which resembles that of German Emperor Wilhelm II.
A series of strange incidents have taken place at the Dallas Zoo in recent weeks. The zoo was forced to close on January 13 after a clouded leopard escaped through a hole in the fence of its enclosure. The big cat was finally found on the zoo grounds. A 35-year-old vulture named Pin died about a week later. He had an "unusual wound," according to the zoo. The zoo offered a $10,000 (more than €9,100) reward for information leading to the incident. Because the dead bird of prey belongs to an endangered species, even federal officials got involved in the investigation.
