The Dallas Zoo experiences a series of mysterious cases - again and again animals go missing. The same is true now: two little monkeys, emperor tamarins, first disappear, but then reappear in an empty house. The zoo management is puzzled.
Two emperor tamarins have disappeared from the Dallas Zoo in the US state of Texas, but after a feverish search they were discovered safe and sound in a house a good 25 kilometers south of the Texan city. Police tweeted a photo of one of the monkeys with the distinctive white mustache and declared both animals rescued. This continues a series of mysterious cases.
According to the zoo, employees noticed the absence of the two emperor tamarins on Monday morning. A search for the animals on the zoo grounds was unsuccessful and was subsequently expanded. Dallas police said the animals' 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."
Police launched a full-scale search and released a photo of a man in a hoodie who may have been involved in the disappearance of the animals. Ultimately, the two emperor tamarins were found in a vacant house in Lancaster, a good 25 kilometers south of Dallas, according to a tip. "The monkeys were returned to the zoo," police said on Tuesday evening.
Emperor tamarins are small primates native to the southwestern Amazon. Her name comes from her distinctive white mustache. 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.
About a week later, a lappet-faced vulture died in the zoo of an apparently unnatural death. The 35-year-old vulture named Pin had a "wound," according to the zoo. The zoo offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the incident. "Everyone is a suspect at this point - internally and externally," said zoo director Gregg Hudson. Because the dead bird of prey belongs to an endangered species, even federal officials got involved in the investigation.
