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A 24-year-old man has been arrested in Dallas and charged in reference to the suspected theft of a pair of emperor tamarin monkeys that have been recovered unhurt this week in an deserted house a day after they vanished from the Dallas Zoo, police stated.
Davion Irvin was arrested late Thursday evening and charged with six counts of animal cruelty-non-livestock, Dallas Police stated in a news launch.
Irvin is being held on the Dallas County Jail. It was not instantly clear if he has a lawyer.
“The preliminary investigation and help from the public identified Irvin as the man Dallas Police were looking to speak with regarding the missing monkeys at the Dallas Zoo,” police stated.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is helping Dallas police within the investigation, Public Affairs Specialist Christina Meister stated in an announcement Friday.
The monkeys’ disappearance adopted a sequence of suspicious incidents on the zoo in latest weeks involving a leopard, langur monkeys and vulture, all of which led to a hike in safety, together with extra cameras, safety patrols, in a single day workers, fencing and expertise. Meantime, a Louisiana zoo reported the weekend theft of 12 squirrel monkeys.
A $25,000 reward was supplied within the Dallas lacking monkeys case as zoo officers launched surveillance footage that “seems to have been critical in generating a tip that led to the recovery of the tamarins” within the house in Lancaster, Texas, about 15 miles away.
Police additionally launched a picture of an unidentified man they stated they have been trying to find and needed to interview. The video reveals a person strolling slowly down an almost empty zoo sidewalk, trying forwards and backwards as he strikes. Another particular person is seen within the background strolling in the other way; the picture reveals a person sporting a navy hooded sweatshirt and a navy and purple beanie cap whereas consuming a bag of Doritos.
The monkeys went lacking Monday from a habitat that had been “intentionally compromised,” the zoo stated, including Dallas Police stated that they had cause to consider they have been “intentionally taken from the enclosure.” The zoo was closed Monday as a consequence of inclement climate, it earlier had introduced, with the closure prolonged by Wednesday as a consequence of an ice storm.
How the animals left the zoo and acquired into the Lancaster home continues to be a thriller. Upon their return, the monkeys have been put into quarantine, the zoo stated.
“Emperor tamarin monkeys, Bella and Finn, were so happy to snuggle into their nest sack here at the Zoo last night!” it stated on Facebook. “Our veterinary and animal care teams have said, beyond losing a bit of weight, they show no signs of injury and both started eating and drinking almost immediately once the team completed health exams on Tuesday night.”
Other unusual developments with animals have unfolded in latest weeks on the Dallas Zoo.
A clouded leopard named Nova disappeared January 13, and the zoo closed to seek for the animal. Police launched a felony investigation after they discovered the fence round Nova’s enclosure had been “intentionally cut,” they stated. Later that day, Nova was discovered close to her habitat.
Meanwhile, zoo workers noticed an analogous lower to the enclosure of some langur monkeys, however none of them had escaped, the zoo stated. Police didn’t instantly decide whether or not the 2 incidents have been associated.
The incidents prompted the zoo to ramp up safety, together with putting in extra cameras and boosting in a single day safety personnel and staffing, its president and CEO Gregg Hudson stated. Restrictions have been additionally positioned on animals’ means to go outdoors in a single day, he added.
Then, a lappet-faced vulture named Pin was discovered useless January 21 in his habitat. “Circumstances of the death are unusual, and the death does not appear to be from natural causes,” the zoo stated in an announcement.
The chook’s loss of life was “suspicious” and it suffered “an unusual wound and injuries,” Hudson stated. The zoo is providing a $10,000 reward for info resulting in the arrest and indictment of a suspect within the vulture’s loss of life.
Source: www.cnn.com