Act Daily News
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A 61-year-old man was arrested and charged Tuesday within the theft of 12 squirrel monkeys from a zoo in Broussard, Louisiana, police stated.
The animals, nonetheless, haven’t but been discovered, Broussard Police Chief Vance Olivier instructed Act Daily News.
The 12 squirrel monkeys have been taken throughout a break-in on the zoo that focused services of smaller primates, Zoosiana stated on its Facebook web page final week.
The suspect, Joseph Raymond Randall, was tied to the squirrel monkey thefts after police reviewed video footage from the zoo and acquired a number of cellphone calls from members of the general public, the police chief stated.
Randall was charged with 12 counts of animal cruelty and one rely easy housebreaking for the incident, in response to Olivier. He is scheduled to look earlier than a decide Friday morning.
It’s unclear whether or not Randall has retained an lawyer.
As the monkeys stay lacking, the chief urged anybody with info on their whereabouts to name authorities in Broussard.
“While this situation continues to be incredibly upsetting, we are very thankful for the tremendous progress that has been made to get this case to where it is today,” Zoosiana stated in a press release obtained by Act Daily News affiliate KATC.
The zoo didn’t say what number of squirrel monkeys it nonetheless had however famous the remaining monkeys have been assessed by a veterinarian and animal care staff after the break-in and have been in good well being.
The monkey thefts on the Louisiana zoo come after a collection of bizarre incidents involving animals at a zoo in Dallas – together with the disappearance of two emperor tamarin monkeys discovered a day later in an deserted house about 15 miles away, officers there stated.
Source: www.cnn.com