The mysterious case of the missing monkeys has been solved! A 24-year-old man has been arrested in Dallas and charged in connection with the suspected theft of two emperor tamarin monkeys from the Dallas Zoo. After a series of suspicious incidents at the zoo in recent weeks, Davion Irvin was arrested late Thursday night and charged with six counts of animal cruelty-non-livestock.
The monkeys went missing Monday morning from a habitat that had been “intentionally compromised,” the zoo said. After a $25,000 reward was offered, surveillance footage that “seems to have been critical in generating a tip that led to the recovery of the tamarins” in an abandoned home a day after they vanished. The monkeys were recovered unharmed and put into quarantine, the zoo said.
In response to the suspicious incidents, the zoo had ramped up security, including installing more cameras and boosting overnight security personnel and staffing, its president and CEO Gregg Hudson said. Restrictions were also placed on animals’ ability to go outside overnight, he added.
Then, a lappet-faced vulture named Pin was found dead January 21 in his habitat. “Circumstances of the death are unusual, and the death does not appear to be from natural causes,” the zoo said in a statement. The bird’s death was “suspicious” and it suffered “an unusual wound and injuries,” Hudson said. The zoo is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and indictment of a suspect in the vulture’s death.
The case of the missing monkeys has been solved, but the mystery of the suspicious incidents at the Dallas Zoo continues. It’s a reminder of how important it is to protect our wildlife and the environment, and to take all necessary precautions to keep our animals safe.
Source: www.cnn.com