After two tamarin monkeys went missing from the Dallas Zoo on Monday, the Dallas Police Department is looking into another missing animal case at the zoo.
A spokesman for the Dallas Police Department told PEOPLE that an “intentional cut” was made in a tamarin monkey’s cage at the zoo. This is what the preliminary investigation found. Officials think that the animals were taken from the enclosure on purpose, but the investigation is still going on.
A representative for the Dallas Zoo says that emperor tamarin monkeys are likely to stay close to home. The zoo looked for them near their home and all over the zoo grounds, but they could not be found.
The Texas zoo has been reporting a string of missing and hurt animals over the past few weeks, which led to what happened on Monday.
Most recently, the Dallas Zoo said that one of its endangered vultures living in the Wilds of Africa habitats was found dead over the weekend. The zoo said in a Facebook post on Sunday:
“The animal care team is heartbroken over this tremendous loss. Please keep them in your thoughts as they process what has happened.”
On January 14, a clouded leopard named Nova, who was 4 years old, went missing. Because of this, the zoo had to close for the day. Even though she was found near her enclosure later that day, a Dallas Police Department investigation on January 16 showed that a cutting tool was used to cut a hole in the fence around Nova’s habitat on the same day she got out.
The area where langurs, a small type of monkey, lived in the zoo had the same kind of cut. The cutting of the two fences is still being looked into.
In response to these two events, the Dallas Zoo “added more cameras throughout the Zoo and increased security patrols overnight,” according to a post about the death of a vulture.
“We will continue to implement and expand our safety and security measures to whatever level necessary to keep our animals and staff safe,” the zoo added before ending the post with a promise to “provide updates as we know more.”
