Animals At The Dallas Zoo Keep Mysteriously Disappearing

First, the mud tiger leaves its habitat. Then a langur appeared early in the house. A week later, an endangered vulture mysteriously died. Later, two emperor monkeys were kidnapped.

In just a few weeks, a series of suspicious incidents occurred at the Dallas Zoo, leading to the arrest of a suspect in connection with the monkey's disappearance on Friday morning. Police are still investigating whether the man is involved in other incidents. Davion Irwin, 24, has been charged with six possible counts of animal cruelty, according to the Dallas Police Department.

Chief Executive Officer for Animal Care and Protection J. David Goodman Harrison Edel told The New York Times , "It's been a while."

The series of troubles began on January 13 when Nova, a misty tiger, escaped through an artificial hole in the fence. Officials shut down the zoo and issued a "Code Blue" alert, meaning the harmless animal is roaming free. After 6.5 hours of searching, he was found 100 meters from the zoo. The next day, the crew found parts of the langur monkeys' habitat that were similar to those in Nova's nest, but all the monkeys were accounted for.

A week later, the rare and critically endangered vulture -- one of about 6,500 on the planet, according to the zoo -- died of suspected wounds. The 35-year-old bird, named Pin, is one of four vultures in the zoo and one of 27 birds in captivity in the United States.

"The animal care team is deeply saddened by this incredible loss," the zoo tweeted on Jan. 22. "The circumstances of his death were unusual and his death does not appear to have been of natural causes."

After the incident, the zoo increased security, hired night attendants and added more cameras. But despite his best efforts, two imperial monkeys, Finn and Bella, were taken from their home on January 30th. A few days later, they were found in an abandoned house in Lancaster, Texas and returned safely to the zoo. Upon examination, the vet found that despite weight loss, there was no damage.

"We will continue to keep a close eye on them but they are safe now and very happy to have them back with us," the zoo wrote on Facebook. “Because they were taken off the farm, they won't be returning to the Lacert Family Zoo for a while. They must be quarantined before returning to the zoo.”

The event was a reminder that "in zoos, national parks and in the wild, we all have a responsibility to protect animals," Wildlife and Aquatic Society CEO Dan Ash told NPR's Jacqueline Diaz.

In a statement, he added that the association supports animals and zoos that are "victims of acts that may be committed for personal reasons or worse, by traffickers."

The wildlife trade is worth between $7.8 billion and $10 billion a year. Poaching and trade are the main causes of population declines in endangered species such as lizards, tigers and elephants.

Thefts in zoos are not uncommon. In 2015, 25 members of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums reported animal thefts, Catherine Gammon wrote in the Guardian four years ago. In 2017, poachers attacked a French zoo, shot one of the rhinos and took it from its enclosure. In 2018, a ring-tailed lemur was stolen from the Santa Ana Zoo, and two years later, another lemur was stolen from the San Francisco Zoo. Both lemurs were safely returned.

Police are currently investigating the theft of 12 squirrel monkeys from a Louisiana zoo. The monkeys were captured on January 28th, two days before Finn and Bella were stolen. There is currently no known connection between the two cases.

Ed Hansen, CEO of the American Society for the Protection of Animals, told The Intelligencer 's Matt Stieb that the incident was of little concern. "If you collect animals from the zoo without quotes, you quickly realize that you bite off more than you can chew. Usually people find they can't handle it and let it go.