DALLAS – Two emperor tamarin monkeys that disappeared from the Dallas Zoo on Monday were recovered by Dallas police Tuesday.
Officers, responding to a tip, discovered the monkeys in an abandoned house in Lancaster, about 15 miles from the zoo, Dallas police said. The monkeys have been returned to the zoo.
And the zoo announced Wednesday it was upping the reward offered for information leading to an arrest in a string of suspicious incidents.
Zoo officials were elated.
“We are thrilled beyond belief to share that our two emperor tamarin monkeys have been found,” the zoo said on Twitter. “DPD located the animals … and called our team to come secure and transport the tamarins back to the Zoo. They will be evaluated by our veterinarians.”
That evaluation found that beyond losing a bit of weight, the tamarins showed no signs of injury, the zoo said Wednesday.
Previously: Dallas Zoo offers $10,000 reward after rare vulture’s death and fences on 2 animal enclosures cut
“Both started eating and drinking almost immediately once the team completed health exams,” zoo officials said “They will not return to the habitat for a while — because they were taken off-grounds, they will need to clear a quarantine period before they are reintroduced to their Zoo habitat.”
After the tamarins disappeared Monday from their enclosure, the zoo said it was clear someone “intentionally compromised” their enclosure. Dallas police viewed the disappearance as a theft, the zoo said.
“Emperor tamarin monkeys would likely stay close to home,” the zoo said in a statement on Twitter. “The Zoo searched near their habitat and across zoo grounds and did not locate them.”
Emperor tamarins are dwarf monkeys with whiskers that resemble a white moustache. They can be found in the wild in tropical rainforests and in mountainous regions in Brazil, Peru and Bolivia.
Dallas police on Tuesday released a photo of a person they were “looking to speak with” about the missing monkeys, but have not identified any suspects and no arrests have been made, The Washington Post reported.
Zoo officials labeled it as suspicious, saying on Twitter it did not appear to be a death from natural causes.
The damage to an enclosure housing a clouded leopard allowed the animal, named Nova, to escape, forcing the zoo to close Jan. 13. Police opened a criminal investigation when it appeared the animal’s mesh enclosure was intentionally cut.
Nova was corralled later that day unharmed after searchers found the animal on zoo grounds not far from the enclosure.
A langur monkey habitat also appeared to have been tampered with, although none of those animals left their enclosure.
In response, the zoo has beefed up security, adding additional cameras throughout the grounds and increasing onsite security patrols.
Following the death of the vulture, the Dallas Zoo offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who can help solve the string of suspicious incidents. On Wednesday the zoo increased that amount.
“The Zoo is increasing the reward to $25,000 for information that leads to the arrest and indictment of the person(s) responsible for these incidents,” officials said.
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