CNN
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A 24-year-old man was arrested in Dallas and charged in connection with the alleged theft of a pair of emperor tamarin monkeys that were recovered unharmed this week in an abandoned home the day after they disappeared from the Dallas Zoo, police said. .
Davion Irvin was arrested late Thursday night and charged with six counts of cruelty to animals other than livestock, Dallas police said in a news release.
Irvin is being held in the Dallas County Jail. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.
“Preliminary research and public support have identified Irvin as the man Dallas police were trying to talk to about the missing monkey at the Dallas Zoo,” police said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is assisting Dallas police in their investigation, public relations specialist Christina Meister said in a statement Friday.
The monkey’s disappearance follows a series of suspicious incidents involving leopards, langur monkeys and vultures at the zoo in recent weeks, all of which involved increased surveillance cameras, security patrols, night shift staff, fences, This has led to improvements in technology, etc. Meanwhile, at a Louisiana zoo, he reportedly had 12 squirrel monkeys stolen over the weekend.
About 25 miles away in Lancaster, Texas, the case of the missing monkey in Dallas, as zoo officials released surveillance footage that “would have played a key role in generating clues leading to the tamarin’s recovery.” offered a bounty of $25,000.
Police also announced photo of unidentified man They said they were looking and wanted to interview. This video shows a man walking slowly along the sidewalks of a nearly empty zoo. You can see another person walking in the opposite direction in the background.of photo show A man in a navy hooded sweatshirt and navy and red beanie eating a bag of Doritos.
The monkey went missing Monday from its “intentionally endangered” habitat, the zoo said, adding that Dallas police have reason to believe the monkey was “deliberately taken out of its enclosure.” . The zoo was closed on Monday due to inclement weather, and although it had been previously announced, the closure was extended until Wednesday due to the ice storm.
How the animal left the zoo and invaded the Lancasters remains a mystery. The zoo said the returning monkey was quarantined.
“Bella and Finn, emperor tamarin monkeys, were so happy to snuggle up in their nests here at the zoo last night!” it said on facebook“Our veterinarian and animal care team said that not only had she lost a little weight, she showed no signs of injury and was eating and drinking as soon as the team finished her checkup on Tuesday evening. I am saying.”
The Dallas Zoo has seen other bizarre animal developments in recent weeks.
A clouded leopard named Nova disappeared on January 13, and the zoo was closed to search for the animal. Police launched a criminal investigation after discovering the fence around Nova’s enclosure had been “deliberately cut,” they said. Later that day, Nova was spotted near her habitat.
Meanwhile, zoo staff observed similar cuts in several langur monkey enclosures, but none of them escaped, the zoo said. did not immediately judge.
The incident prompted the zoo to step up security, including installing more cameras and increasing nighttime guards and personnel, said president and CEO Greg Hudson. Limits were also placed on the animals’ ability to go out overnight, he added.
A Lappet-faced Vulture named Ping was then found dead in his habitat on January 21. “The circumstances of the death are unusual and do not appear to be a natural death,” the zoo said in a statement.
Hudson said the bird’s death was “suspicious” and suffered “unusual wounds and injuries”. offers money.
