Dallas Zoo reports 2 of their monkeys were ‘taken’ and are now missing
Dallas Zoo #DallasZoo
The emperor tamarins are just the latest animals to have been reported missing from the facility.
Jan. 30, 2023Updated: Jan. 30, 2023 4:57 p.m.
Two of the Dallas Zoo’s emperor tamarin monkeys were reported missing on Monday morning.
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Animals continue to go mysteriously missing at the Dallas Zoo. On Monday morning, Dallas Zoo officials alerted local police that two emperor tamarin monkeys were missing from their enclosure, according to a report from Jamie Landers of the Dallas Morning News. Zoo spokeswoman Kare Streiber told Landers that the two monkeys were unaccounted for as of 3:50 p.m., adding that it’s clear if their habitat was “intentionally compromised.”
The Dallas Police Department is currently investigating the disappearance of the monkeys. “Based on the Dallas Police Department’s initial assessment, they have reason to believe the tamarins were taken,” Streiber told Landers.
Multiple Dallas Zoo animals have been reported missing in recent weeks. On Jan. 13, the zoo issued a “code blue” after one of its clouded leopards, Nova, escaped her enclosure. Though the elusive feline was later found on site near her habitat and unharmed, police had also determined that the fence surrounding her enclosure was intentionally cut open. The next day, a similar fence cut was found at a second enclosure, which contains the zoo’s langur monkeys. However, zoo staff said the monkeys never left their habitat and “did not appear to be harmed or in any danger.”
Just more than a week after Nova’s escape, Pin—a 35-year-old lappet-faced vulture who has lived at the Dallas Zoo for 33 years—had an “unusual death,” zoo staff said, per the Dallas Morning News. A necropsy, or animal autopsy, conducted by the zoo’s veterinary team later revealed that the endangered bird—one of four lappet-faced vultures at the zoo—was found with a “wound.”
Ariana Garcia joined Chron in 2021. Previously, she was a community news and breaking news reporter for the Austin American-Statesman. She enjoys binge-watching anime and films makeup tutorials in her spare time.