Animal thefts at the Dallas Zoo: two monkeys found in an abandoned house

The animal mystery is lifted.

Two emperor tamarin monkeys, who had disappeared, probably stolen, were found alive by the police and returned to the Dallas Zoo (southern United States), authorities announced on Tuesday evening.

The police found the two primates in the afternoon "in an abandoned house in Lancaster", a city located about thirty kilometers south of Dallas, they said on Twitter.

Dallas Police, with the help of the Lancaster Police Department, located the two missing tamarin monkeys from the Dallas Zoo at an abandoned home in Lancaster.

Pictured is one of the animals still inside the closet of the house.

The monkeys have been returned to the zoo.

pic.twitter.com/vfWj7aAt3T

— Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) February 1, 2023

Police, who say they received a tip on the whereabouts of the monkeys, accompanied their message with a photo of one of the primates 'inside a closet in the house' and said the animals had been returned at the zoo.

scheduled exams

The menagerie of this major oil city in Texas, which reported the disappearance of the two little monkeys to law enforcement on Monday, said it was "extremely relieved" in a Facebook post.

"They will be examined by our veterinarians tonight," the Dallas Zoo said.

We are thrilled beyond belief to share that our two emperor tamarin monkeys have been found.

DPD located the animals early this evening, and called our team to come secure and transport the tamarins back to the Zoo.

They will be evaluated by our veterinarians this evening.

pic.twitter.com/bDd49d3uDc

— Dallas Zoo (@DallasZoo) February 1, 2023

"We believe the animals were deliberately removed from the enclosure," Dallas police said in a statement sent to AFP on Tuesday morning, without naming a suspect or potential motive.

These small monkeys with the imposing white mustache, which inhabit the forests of South America, “generally do not stray far from the house”, she specified.

Zoo officials had pointed out on Twitter that "their enclosure had been damaged on purpose".

Zoo vulture found dead

Emperor tamarin monkeys are regularly the target of thefts.

Several of these primates had been stolen from a refuge in northern France in 2016, before that in Lyon (France) in 2011, or even from a zoo in Blackpool (United Kingdom) in 2014.

The Dallas Zoo is just recovering from the death of its beloved vulture.

The animal named "Pin" was found last week with an "atypical injury", leading authorities to believe that his death was not due to a natural cause.

On January 13, a rare clouded leopard escaped from the menagerie through an intentionally cut breach in its enclosure.

The feline named Nova had been recovered after a vast mobilization, involving in particular drones with infrared vision of the police.

Later, zoo workers discovered a similar breach in the cage of langurs, a species of Asian monkey.