Two missing Dallas Zoo monkeys found in abandoned home

Disappearance follows incidents with clouded and vulture at Dallas animal park

An emperor tamarin monkey at the Dallas Zoo in Texas. AFP

Two emperor tamarin monkeys were found on Tuesday after they were said to have been taken from the Dallas Zoo, in the latest bizarre incident at the Texas animal park in January.

The Dallas Police Department are reported to have found them in a nearby abandoned home after the mysterious disappearance. No arrests were made.

Zoo authorities called the police earlier this week “after the animal care team discovered two of our emperor tamarin monkeys were missing”, the zoo tweeted.

“It was clear the habitat had been intentionally compromised.”

“Based on the Dallas Police Department’s initial assessment, they have reason to believe the tamarins were taken,” the zoo said.

The police on Tuesday identified a suspect and asked the public to share any information they may have.

The case of the missing monkeys marked the second time animals have vanished from the zoo in recent weeks.

It closed on January 13 after animal keepers discovered a breach in the enclosure of a clouded leopard.

But the missing big cat was eventually found near her habitat and had not left the zoo grounds.

A little more than a week later, the zoo reported that an endangered lappet-faced vulture was found dead from a “wound” and the “circumstances of the death are unusual”.

In the latest incident, the zoo said employees searched near the monkey habitat and across zoo grounds but did not find the emperor tamarins, which “would likely stay close to home”.

The emperor tamarin is a small monkeys with long white whiskers that sweep back from its face. It is after its likeness to the late German Emperor Wilhelm II.

The monkeys are native to the south-west Amazon basin.

After the vulture was found dead the zoo, which is the oldest and largest in Texas, said it “added additional cameras throughout … and increased on-site security patrols during the overnight hours”.

Agencies contributed to this report