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[Breaking news top, published at 8:xx p.m ET]
Two emperor tamarin monkeys missing from the Dallas Zoo have been found in a cage in an abandoned house in the south Dallas suburbs, police said Tuesday.
“Dallas police received a tip that the monkeys may be in an abandoned house in Lancaster,” the department said Tuesday night. “Dallas police along with Lancaster police went to the house and found the house empty and the monkeys in a closet.”
Police earlier tweeted. Photo The person you said you wanted to talk to about the animal’s disappearance. Dallas police spokeswoman Christine Lowman said Tuesday night that investigators want to speak with that man.
Police did not say why they wanted to talk to the man; No arrests have been made.
Lancaster is a town approximately 15 miles south of the zoo.
[Original story, published at 7:51 p.m. ET]
Two emperor tamarin monkeys that went missing from the Dallas Zoo were found Tuesday, the zoo announced.
“We are beyond excited to share the discovery of our two emperor tamarin monkeys,” the zoo said in a statement.
Dallas police found the animals Tuesday night, the zoo said, without immediately providing details on how they were found. The zoo previously said the animals were believed to have been stolen on Monday.
According to the zoo, the police called our team to return the tamarins to the zoo. The monkeys will be evaluated by veterinarians on Tuesday night, the zoo reported.
Dallas police said in a preliminary investigation that the emperor tamarins’ enclosure was intentionally left open and “it is believed the animals were intentionally removed from the enclosure.”
Police have released surveillance video and a photo of an unidentified man regarding the two missing tamarin monkeys. “Dallas Police are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the individual in the video,” they wrote.
In the surveillance video, the man is seen walking slowly down an empty zoo sidewalk, looking back and forth as he moves. A second person can be seen in the background, but that person is walking in the opposite direction.
In the picture, the man is wearing a navy blue hooded sweatshirt, a navy and red beanie hat, and eating a bag of Doritos.
The investigation comes after a series of suspicious animal incidents at the Dallas Zoo this month. The zoo said the two emperor tamarin monkeys were stolen after they were found missing from their enclosure on Monday.
“Emperor tamarin monkeys may be close to home – zoos are close to their homes and zoos can’t find them,” he said. press release Monday.
Earlier Monday, the zoo said it would. closed for the day due to bad weather. The zoo said the closure has been extended until Wednesday due to a snowstorm in the area.
This is the fourth time this month that the zoo has found the animal, or the enclosure may have been damaged. “unusual” Circumstances surrounding the vulture’s death last week, according to the zoo.
The string of events began on January 13 when a clouded tiger named Nova went missing, forcing the zoo to close as they searched for the animal. Dallas police have opened a criminal investigation after it was discovered that the fence around Nova’s compound had been “deliberately cut”.
The elephant was found close to her home that day, the zoo staff found it to be the same piece of a pack of some Langro monkeys. Despite the new escape route, none of the monkeys left their habitat, the zoo said. Police said at the time: “It is not known if the two incidents are related.”
Following the incidents, the zoo installed more security cameras, more than doubled its overnight security staff, increased its night staff and began restricting some animals’ ability to go outside overnight, said president and CEO Greg Hudson.
But less than two weeks after the initial findings, a vulture named Pin was found dead in the enclosure. Hudson described the bird’s death as “suspicious” and said the “unusual lacerations and trauma” meant the bird had not died of natural causes.
The zoo is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the suspect in the vulture’s death.
Dallas police are investigating all four incidents. A spokesman said last week that the department is cooperating with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the investigation.