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Emperor tamarin (symbol image): Police investigation after disappearance
Photo: Anna Kucherova / iStockphoto / Getty Images
In a zoo in the US state of Texas, several mysterious incidents have called the police into action.
Two monkeys have been missing since Monday (local time), the Dallas Zoo announced on Twitter.
The two emperor tamarins were not in their enclosure in the morning, it said.
It is clear that the enclosure was "deliberately" damaged.
Normally, the monkeys with curved whiskers would not stray far from their homes, the zoo said.
However, a search of the site was unsuccessful.
According to initial police investigations, there is reason to believe that the animals were stolen.
According to the zoo, it houses more than 2000 animals and more than 400 different species.
It is not the first incident this year that caused a stir: a clouded leopard escaped from its enclosure in mid-January, as reported by the Dallas Morning News newspaper, among others.
After hours of searching with drones and a special police unit, the big cat appeared unharmed on the zoo grounds.
Suspicious damage was also discovered in their enclosure.
The police have launched an investigation.
A hole was also found in another monkey enclosure – however, the langurs living there did not escape.
Reinforced security measures
About a week later, a vulture was found dead in its enclosure, the newspaper reported.
An autopsy revealed a wound, zoo officials said at a press conference on Monday.
A spokeswoman for the zoo had previously said the vulture appeared to have died "not of natural causes."
No further details have been given so far.
The security measures have initially been strengthened with cameras and night patrols, the zoo said in a tweet.
So far, according to the AP news agency, the police have not officially commented on whether the incidents are linked.
However, Ed Hansen, a representative of the American Association of Zoo Keepers, said he could not remember a zoo having faced similar incidents so often.
"It seems someone really has a problem with the Dallas Zoo."
bbr/dpa/AP