DALLAS — The two emperor tamarin monkeys that were stolen from the Dallas Zoo last month were seen running around in their enclosure Monday after being released from quarantine.
The monkeys, Bella and Finn, were declared missing on Jan. 30 after police said their habitat had been cut. They were found alive the next day inside a closet in a vacant home in Lancaster.
Although the initial goal was to quarantine Bella and Finn for about two weeks, the seclusion lasted nearly three.
“We wanted to do at least a two-week quarantine just to make sure that they didn’t pick something up from another animal in the house,” Harrison Edell, the zoo’s executive vice president of animal care and conservation, told The Dallas Morning News. “In high-stress events, immune systems can tank, and that’s when a bug can catch hold. We didn’t want to take any chances.”
Bella and Finn’s disappearance was just one of several mysterious incidents at the zoo, including: a daylong search for a clouded leopard named Nova who escaped through a cut in her enclosure, a similar cut found in the langur monkeys’ enclosure and the suspicious death of an endangered vulture named Pin.
Authorities are still investigating the string of incidents, but 24-year-old Davion Irvin was arrested earlier this month after he was spotted at the Dallas World Aquarium. He faces six charges of animal cruelty and a count of burglary in connection with the stolen monkeys, in addition to another burglary charge related to Nova’s cut habitat. He is also connected to the cut langur monkey enclosure, a police spokeswoman said, but he has not been linked to the death of Pin.
In arrest warrant affidavits obtained by The News following his arrest, police say Irvin told investigators how he was able to enter the zoo multiple times and said if he’s released from jail, he plans to return to the zoo and steal more animals. He also told police he took Bella and Finn on the DART rail after he sneaked them out of the zoo.
Irvin remained in custody in the Dallas County jail Monday, with bail set at $130,000.
The zoo announced around 9:30 a.m. Monday that it had cut off general admission tickets for the remainder of Monday because it had reached capacity. It reached capacity the prior afternoon as well.
