UPDATE: Arrest made in tamarin monkeys theft

UPDATE: Dallas police arrested Davion Irvin, 24, pictured above, in the theft of two tamarin monkeys from the Dallas Zoo.

According to a statement from DPD, “On Thursday, Dallas Police received a tip Irvin was seen at the Dallas World Aquarium near animal exhibits. When officers responded they saw Irvin get onto a DART rail. Officers later spotted Irvin in the 1400 block of Pacific and took him to Jack Evans Headquarters for questioning.”

Irvin has been charged with six counts of animal cruelty-non-livestock. Additional charges in connection to the death of a vulture and the release of a clouded leopard are possible.

UPDATE: The two tamarin emperor monkeys that went missing Monday, Jan. 30, from their intentionally damaged habitat at the Dallas Zoo were located today in Lancaster and returned to the zoo.

According to a DPD statement, Dallas police received a tip that the missing monkeys were at an abandoned home in Lancaster. Dallas police officers went to the location with Lancaster PD officers and found the tamarins shut inside a closet in the abandoned home.

The monkeys have been returned to the zoo, and the investigation continues. No arrests have been made.

UPDATE: Dallas police have asked for the public’s help in identifying the man pictured above, saying they want to talk to him about two tamarin emperor monkeys that went missing from the Dallas Zoo yesterday (Monday, Jan. 30). Anyone with information on this man or on the missing monkeys is asked to call Detective Edwin Saracay at 214-671-4509 or email him at Edwin.saracay@dallaspolice.gov.

ORIGINAL POST: Less than a month after a clouded leopard escaped from its habitat at the Dallas Zoo when the screen around the habitat was intentionally cut, zoo officials said today (Monday, Jan 30) that two emperor tamarin monkeys appear to have been taken from the zoo.

Zoo officials said there is “clear evidence” that the tamarin monkeys’ habitat had been “intentionally compromised,” and that if the two monkeys had escaped the habitat on their own, they would have likely stayed close by. But after a thorough search, the monkeys have not been found, further evidence that they were deliberately taken.

Dallas police have been notified and are investigating.

This is the fourth incident at Dallas Zoo since the beginning of the year, according to NBCDFW, Channel 5. The first was when the clouded leopard habitat was deliberately damaged, allowing one of the cats, named Nova, to escape.

She was later found unharmed, however during the hunt for Nova, it was determined that the habitat for the langur monkeys had been deliberately damaged as well, though none of the langur monkeys escaped.

Since then, one of the zoo’s endangered vultures was found dead with what zoo officials called a suspicious wound.

— Tammye Nash