Dallas police have identified a person recorded in Dallas Zoo security camera footage that they feel may have information regarding the disappearance of two emperor tamarin monkeys.
The zoo announced Monday that the monkeys were missing from their “intentionally compromised” enclosure that morning. After an exhaustive search of the zoo campus, staff and police determined that the monkeys may have been taken from the zoo.
Tuesday morning, Dallas police released a photo of a man holding a bag of Doritos, possibly inside the Lacerte Family Children’s Zoo. An accompanying video, police say, shows the same man, wearing a dark hoodie and pants, walking through the Zoo.
When asked for clarification, Dallas police spokesperson Kristin Lowman said that the man in the photo is not currently a suspect or person of interest. It is not clear when the recording was made or why police are interested in speaking with the man.
“The photo is being provided in hopes the public can help us identify the man,” she said. “Detectives are looking to speak with the man in regard to the two missing tamarin monkeys.”
The Lacerte Family Children’s Zoo is located in Zoo North, just steps from the Primate Place and the clouded leopard habitat.
On January 13, a clouded leopard escaped her enclosure, and zoo officials determined that the fence around it had been deliberately cut. A similar breach was found in the langur monkey habitat the same day. The zoo’s tamarins and langurs are located in the Primate Place. On January 23, a lappet-faced vulture was found dead with a suspicious wound. Its habitat is on the opposite side of the Zoo in the Wilds of Africa.
Lowman said that the police are investigating all four incidents, and part of that investigation will be to determine if any or all of the cases are related. The Zoo is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the death of the lappet-faced vulture. Anyone with information about the missing tamarins is asked to contact Detective Edwin Saracay at 214-671-4509 or at [email protected].
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