#dallas zoo monkey theft

[saritawolff]

As reports of other incidents are beginning to come in, I thought I’d make a thread on all the crazy break-ins going on in the zoo world since the beginning of 2023.

On January 13th, Dallas Zoo closed due to a loose clouded leopard. Within hours she was discovered close to her home and safely returned to her enclosure with her sister, who had not left. Her wire mesh fence was discovered to have been intentionally cut open.

The next day, January 14th, it was announced that another cut had been discovered in the Dallas Zoo’s spectacled langur exhibit. However, the monkeys did not leave their enclosure and all were reportedly accounted for and uninjured.

On January 22nd, a highly endangered lappet-faced vulture at the Dallas Zoo was found dead in his enclosure with a “suspicious wound.” The wound appeared to be unnatural and is suspected of being a stab wound.

On January 29th keepers at Zoosiana discovered that 12 of their squirrel monkeys were stolen in the night. The remaining monkeys were uninjured but stressed.

On January 30th, attention was back on the Dallas Zoo as it reported that two of its emperor tamarins were missing after their enclosure had been cut into. As Dallas was in the middle of a freeze, it was doubtful the monkeys would have left their heated enclosure willingly. They were believed to have been taken.

On January 31st, Dallas police released photos and a video of a person of interest who may be connected to the theft of the tamarins.

Later that day, the tamarins were found in an abandoned home following a tip from the owners of the neighboring church. The monkeys were in a closet filled with bird feces and moldy clothes. Police also found cats, cat feces, pigeons, and a water jug containing dead fish in the home.

The tamarins were reportedly very happy to return to their warm home, but had lost weight. The zoo currently has them in quarantine to get their weight back up and monitor them for any illnesses they could have caught from the other animals in the abandoned house.

On February 2nd, 24-year-old Davion Dwight Irvin was arrested after an employee of the Dallas World Aquarium recognized him from the “person of interest” photos. He was reportedly scoping out mesh enclosures at the aquarium and approached the employee to ask questions about the animals’ care.

Apparently there had been unreported thefts in early January of feeder fish and fish supplies as well as training supplies taken from the behind the scenes otter area at the Dallas Zoo.

Meanwhile, also on February 2nd, someone cut open the stainless steel mesh of the Central Park Zoo’s Eurasian eagle owl exhibit. The owl, Flaco, has been under zoo surveillance since he was located on the 3rd and the hope is to lure him back with food once he gets hungry. As of today, February 8th, he has not eaten or drank, as he does not know how to in the wild.

Back to Texas, and despite zoos in the area doubling security, on February 6th keepers found a 4-inch cut in the Houston Zoo’s brown pelican enclosure. The birds are reportedly all accounted for and unharmed.

On February 7th, it was reported that Davion had not only confessed to stealing the Dallas Zoo’s monkeys, but also stated that, if released, he would go right back to stealing animals.

Davion confessed that he had attempted to take Nova, the clouded leopard, but he was only able to pet her before she climbed out of reach. He was also linked to cutting the langurs’ enclosure, but not charged since the langurs did not escape.

It was also revealed that Davion had been a person of interest after staff recognized the zoo regular as someone who often asked a lot of abnormal questions (such as how to shift the tamarins in and out of their various spaces) and had been previously been caught sneaking into staff only areas.

So far the vulture, Pin’s, death is still under investigation. Pin’s enclosure was on the other side of the zoo from the area Davion had been targeting.

As for Zoosiana’s squirrel monkeys, an arrest has been made in connection to the theft. 61-year-old Joseph Randell has been taken in for questioning. The 12 monkeys remain missing.

As it stands, we still have one dead vulture who’s killer may still be at large, 12 missing squirrel monkeys, and an owl in danger of starvation or injury in New York City.

I will reblog with updates to ongoing cases as they become available, or if more zoo sabotage happens (God forbid). Please feel free to correct me if I’ve gotten any dates or information wrong and I will edit or update this post.

(Also, I am on mobile and won’t be able to add a readmore until I can access a computer, sorry) Update: I was finally able to add a readmore and also turned all news links into hyperlinks.

[is-the-primate-vid-cute]

Arrest made after Dallas Zoo events, including the theft of two tamarin monkeys:

Davion Irvin said he loves animals and that if he’s released from jail, he would steal more, the documents said.

Irvin, who remained jailed Tuesday on $25,000 bond, was arrested last week after asking questions at a downtown Dallas aquarium about animals there. He is charged with six counts of animal cruelty and two counts of burglary.

Zoo staff say the monkeys have lost weight but are unharmed.

Irvin told police that on the night of Jan. 29, he waited until dark, jumped a fence to get onto zoo grounds, cut the metal mesh of an enclosure and took the two emperor tamarin monkeys, according to arrest warrant affidavits . He then got on the city’s light rail before walking to the vacant home where he said he kept his animals.

Irvin has been charged in two of the odd events over a span of several weeks at the zoo and is linked to another, police said. In the taking of the monkeys, Irvin faces one count of burglary and six counts of animal cruelty — three for each monkey. He also faces a burglary charge in relation to the escape of a clouded leopard named Nova, who was discovered missing Jan. 13. A cut was found in her enclosure, and the zoo closed as a search was launched. She was found later that day near her habitat.

Irvin told investigators that he’d wanted to take Nova but that he was only able to pet her before she got on top of her enclosure, an affidavit said.

Police said have said they are still investigating, but Irvin has not been linked to the suspicious death of an endangered vulture at the zoo in January.

Meanwhile police in Louisiana announced the arrest Tuesday of a 61-year-old man in the case of 12 squirrel monkeys that were discovered missing Jan. 29 from their enclosure at Zoosiana in Broussard, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) west of Baton Rouge.

Police said the missing monkeys haven’t yet been found.

Source

[littlesolo]

The day I post my Kacy Drabble about Kate and Lucy going to the Dallas zoo....

Maybe Lucy didn't volunteer.... maybe theft is stretching it. She found the monkey in their car! They tried to get him out, but he wanted to play!

[quaranmine]

I say shits fucked here in Texas quite a bit but all these attacks at the Dallas zoo have bumped that phrase up to another level. I hope the monkeys are found safely and that it doesn’t branch off to the other Zoos around here.

It's so wild to me. Like, what is going on? Is this some sort of animal rights/PETA type protest against zoos? Is it theft for the exotic animal trade? But I feel like if it was protest related it would come with a message of some sort since it's been a little over two weeks. And if it was theft for exotic animal trade, I feel like it would not include killing a vulture, since I assume that vultures aren't nearly as common of an exotic pet as a clouded leopard would be. Is it a disgrunted member of the zoo staff? Or just someone random committing crimes? Why is someone doing this?

I'm so worried about the monkeys though, especially because of the weather right now. A lot of parts of Texas are experiencing winter weather and Dallas is in a bit of an ice storm right now. I don't know much about emperor tamarin monkeys except that a cursory google search says they live in the Amazon lowland in a humid environment so....not places I expect get ice storms. I think if they weren't escaped/taken the zoo would have them inside somewhere heated right now. I hope wherever they are they're warm enough and sheltered enough.

Whoever is doing this is only going to get animals killed--and already has killed an animal :(

[era-news]

Suspect in theft of Dallas Zoo tamarin monkeys is indicted on felony burglary charges | CNN

Editor’s Note: (February 9, 2024): Since this story was published, prosecutors have asked for the dismissal of six misdemeanor animal cruelty charges against Davion Irvin, saying he has been in custody longer than any possible sentence for those charges. Two felony charges of burglary of a building are pending and he is still incarcerated, records show. Irvin’s case is on hold indefinitely after…

[newswireml]

Zoo too? Houston Zoo latest to deal with suspicious incident#Zoo #Houston #Zoo #latest #deal #suspicious #incident

HOUSTON — Police are investigating possible vandalism at the Houston Zoo after workers discovered that someone had deliberately cut a four-inch gap in the mesh that covers a habitat for brown pelicans. The damage to the habitat comes after a series of thefts and incidents of vandalism at other zoos around the country, including the theft of two monkeys from the Dallas Zoo. After workers at the…

[qudachuk]

Charging documents accuse Davion Irvin, 24, of taking monkeys from enclosure and say he intended to return to zooA man arrested on charges related to mysterious incidents at the Dallas zoo planned to return to the zoo and steal...

[sutrala]

Alleged Dallas Zoo monkey thief busted while lurking in aquarium... (Second column, 14th story, link) Drudge Report Feed needs your support!   Become a Patron

[hostor-infotech]

Texas man arrested for allegedly stealing monkeys from Dallas Zoo | Wildlife News

The zoo has added extra security after the theft of two emperor tamarin monkeys, both of which have been recovered. A man accused of pilfering a pair of primates from a zoo in the United States has been apprehended, police say. Law enforcement officials in the city of Dallas, Texas, said in a blog post on Friday that a 24-year-old suspect has been arrested for allegedly stealing two emperor…

[spitonews]

Texas man arrested for allegedly stealing monkeys from Dallas Zoo | Wildlife News

The zoo has added extra security after the theft of two emperor tamarin monkeys, both of which have been recovered. A man accused of pilfering a pair of primates from a zoo in the United States has been apprehended, police say. Law enforcement officials in the city of Dallas, Texas, said in a blog post on Friday that a 24-year-old suspect has been arrested for allegedly stealing two emperor…

[is-the-primate-vid-cute]

What do you think of the recent string of animal thefts from zoo's including the recent Tamarin theft at the Dallas Zoo?

The easy answer is that it's terrible. To go into more depth, this is why we need to fight misinformation and educate people to the values and function of zoos.

I don't know why zoos are being targeted with vandalism, theft, and destruction recently but I do know that there are many people that think zoos are inherently wrong, and that valuing "freedom" for animals over their actual quality of life is a problem.

Zoo animals have enclosures designed specifically for their needs, have their complex social, physical, and dietary needs provided and monitored by teams of experts dedicated to their care, and get to live lives almost entirely free of pain. While we can agree that the ideally zoos would not be necessary to protect animals and that all species could thrive in their natural habitats, as it stands zoos also protect many species from extinction and are vital in keeping a genetic reserve that means if a species were to go extinct in the wild, they would not be gone forever. On top of what they do for animals, zoos are also responsible for introducing people to the magic of animals in safe, fun, and educational environments.

To take a zoo animal from their enclosure is about as misguided as releasing a pet store goldfish into the ocean. That is, if the perpetrators of these crimes are operating in good faith, which we cannot assume. It is entirely possible that these zoo animals are being targeted for wildlife trafficking and the exotic pet trade. This is another reason we feel it vital to support zoos and emphasize that primates are not pets, because there are still those that believe a pet monkey is appropriate and zoo animals are prisoners.

We are thrilled that the tamarins have returned home and seem to be doing okay after being found in an abandoned house 15 miles away, but this should not have happened and zoos should not have to take resources that could go to animal care and conservation and put them into increased security. We hope for the safe return of the 12 squirrel monkeys missing at this time.

[yhwhrulz]

A 24-year-old man has been arrested in Dallas and charged in connection with the suspected theft of a pair of emperor tamarin monkeys that were recovered unharmed this week in an abandoned home a day after they vanished from the Dallas Zoo, police said.

[labelleperfumery]

Man Arrested in Connection with Monkeys Theft at Dallas Zoo, Nabbed at Aquarium

Cops say they nabbed the guy who stole those monkeys from the Dallas Zoo … they nabbed him at an aquarium. Dallas PD says 24-year-old Davion Irvin has been charged with 6 counts of animal cruelty. They say he’s the same guy who was caught on… from TMZ.com https://www.tmz.com/2023/02/03/dallas-zoo-man-arrested-stealing-monkeys-aquarium/