Dallas Police shared this picture of one of the missing tamarin monkeys after it was found in an abandoned home (Picture: AFP)
The tamarin monkeys that disappeared from the Dallas Zoo were discovered safe and sound inside a closet in an abandoned home.
The Dallas Police Department found the missing apes after responding to tip on Tuesday evening, which directed them to an unoccupied house in Lancaster, Texas.
The Dallas Zoo first alerted the police about the missing monkeys on Monday after conducting a search for the primates inside zoo grounds.
‘Emperor tamarin monkeys would likely stay close to home – the Zoo searched near their habitat and across Zoo grounds, and did not locate them,’ they said on Twitter. ‘Based on the Dallas Police Department’s initial assessment, they have reason to believe the tamarins were taken.’
Police shared this photo of a man wanted for questioning about the missing monkeys (Provider: Dallas Police Department)
Additionally, the police posted an image of a man wanted for questioning regarding the missing monkeys. He was seen in surveillance videos pacing on a zoo sidewalk near the tamarin exhibit.
It is unclear if this monkey-kidnapping is related to a number of other incidents that took place at the Dallas Zoo in recent weeks.
On January 13, a clouded leopard escaped its enclosure, prompting the zoo to declare a code blue as concerned employees looked for the elusive cat.
The leopard, a four-year-old female named Nova, was discovered later the same day in the park near her enclosure. She was reunited with her sister Luna, who did not leave her enclosure.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Later, Dallas police revealed that on the same day as the leopard escape, a monkey enclosure was also tampered with.
The enclosure housed a group of ‘advanced age’ langur monkeys, and none escaped through the small hole that investigators believe was deliberately made in their habitat.
‘It is our belief that this was an intentional act,’ Dallas Police Sergeant Warren Mitchell said after the sabotage was discovered.
Days later on January 21, a lappet-faced vulture named Pin was discovered dead in its enclosure.
According to zoo officials, the 35-year-old endangered vulture native to Africa suffered an ‘unusual’ wound, and did not appear to die from natural causes.
Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected]. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.
Police posted an image of a man wanted for questioning regarding the missing monkeys.
