(DALLAS) — Authorities in Dallas are asking for help in locating two missing tamarin monkeys from the Dallas Zoo
Two monkeys that were reported missing from the Dallas Zoo on Monday have been found, zoo officials announced. The Dallas Police Department found the emperor tamarin monkeys on Tuesday and alerted zoo officials.
The zoo’s veterinarians will evaluate the monkeys, according to the zoo.
The missing monkeys was the latest in a series of animal incidents to rock the Dallas Zoo this month, resulting in police seeking the public’s help.
Members of the zoo’s animal care team discovered two emperor tamarin monkeys missing from their habitats, which was “intentionally compromised,” the Dallas Zoo told ABC News in a statement.
Zoo officials alerted law enforcement officials about the missing monkeys, which have yet to be found.
Dallas police issued an image of a person on Tuesday, saying, “Detectives are looking to speak with the man in regard to the two tamarin monkeys missing from the Dallas Zoo.”
“Emperor tamarin monkeys would likely stay close to home — the zoo searched near their habitat and across zoo grounds, and did not locate them,” the Dallas Zoo tweeted Monday. “Based on the Dallas Police Department’s initial assessment, they have reason to believe the tamarins were taken.”
The Dallas Police Department is investigating the incident and said it believes “the animals were intentionally taken from the enclosure.”
“Officers responded and the preliminary investigation determined an intentional cut was made into a tamarin monkey enclosure at the zoo,” the department said in a Monday statement.
This is the second time animals have gone missing from the zoo in recent weeks.
Earlier this month, a clouded leopard escaped her enclosure after her fence was “intentionally cut,” officials said at the time. According to zoo officials, the female leopard, named Nova, was found the same day it went missing. Dallas police launched a criminal investigation into the incident.
In a similar incident this month, the Dallas Police Department opened a criminal investigation after finding a second fence cut inside the langur monkey habitat at the Dallas Zoo.
Despite the cut fence, no langurs escaped their habitat or appeared to be in danger or harmed, Dallas PD said in a press release.
On Jan. 21, zoo workers found a rare and endangered vulture dead in its enclosure, describing its death as “unusual.” Both police and zoo officials said the vulture, named Pin, did not appear to die from natural causes.
The Dallas Zoo confirmed that it had increased its security measures after the vulture’s death and the leopard’s escape.
“In the past week, we have added additional cameras throughout the zoo and increased onsite security patrols during the overnight hours,” the statement from the zoo read. “We will continue to implement and expand our safety and security measures to whatever level necessary to keep our animals and staff safe.”
It’s unclear if the incidents with the clouded leopard, dead vulture and missing monkeys are related.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso, Jon Haworth and Mark Osborne and contributed to this report.
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