Police seek man who might have information about Dallas Zoo monkey disappearances

UPDATE: Dallas police found the two monkeys safe in a vacant home in Lancaster on Tuesday.

Police in Dallas asked for the public’s help in identifying a person who might have information about the disappearance of two emperor tamarin monkeys from the Dallas Zoo, according to a news release.

The monkeys were discovered to have disappeared from their habitat Monday after zoo officials said the enclosure was intentionally tampered with, the fourth such incident this month.

Police said they had reason to believe that the monkeys were taken out of the zoo. Emperor tamarin monkeys are most likely to stay close to home, so the zoo searched near their habitat and across the grounds but did not find them there.

Anybody who may be able to identify the man in the image was asked to contact Detective Edwin Saracay at 214-671-4509 or at Edwin.saracay@dallaspolice.gov.

This is the latest in a string of incidents at the zoo in which officials say the habitats of animals, including some endangered, have been intentionally tampered with. On Jan. 22, the zoo announced an endangered vulture had died with a suspicious wound after its enclosure had been tampered with.

About a week before, a clouded leopard, Nova, got out of her habitat after someone broke into it, according to the zoo. Also recently, another monkey enclosure was found to be cut into. None of those monkeys went missing.

Nova was later found in the zoo and returned to her exhibit, according to officials.