The entrance to the Dallas Zoo in Dallas is pictured on June 3, 2008. Two monkeys had been taken from the Dallas Zoo on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023, the newest in a string of wierd incidents on the facility.

Steve Helber/AP

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Steve Helber/AP

The entrance to the Dallas Zoo in Dallas is pictured on June 3, 2008. Two monkeys had been taken from the Dallas Zoo on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023, the newest in a string of wierd incidents on the facility.

Steve Helber/AP

Weeks of unusual happenings on the Dallas Zoo ended on a very good be aware this week — a minimum of for now. Two emperor tamarin monkeys believed to have been taken from the Texas zoo were recovered by police unharmed.

“We are pleased that video from our surveillance cameras – which we shared with DPD – seems to have been critical in generating a tip that led to the recovery of the tamarins ,” the Dallas Zoo shared.

The monkeys’ disappearance was the end result of a sequence of suspicious occasions on the zoo in current weeks.

In January, Pin, an endangered male lappet-faced vulture, was found dead with a suspicious wound in his enclosure. Before that, Nova, a 25-pound clouded leopard, went lacking for hours after her mesh enclosure was tampered with, the zoo reported. The leopard was later discovered and returned. At the identical time, investigators found the enclosure for the zoo’s langur monkeys was lower, however not one of the animals escaped.

Police are saying these occasions are probably associated. After the restoration of the 2 emperor tamarin monkeys, the zoo announced it is growing the reward for info on the individual, or individuals, chargeable for these incidents to $25,000.

Though zoos are usually extremely protected and well-designed, these current occasions function an essential reminder “that we all have to be vigilant in protecting animals in zoos, in national parks, in nature,” Dan Ashe, president and CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, instructed NPR. It reveals that these issues can occur even at a spot as well-designed and well-managed because the Dallas Zoo, he stated.

Recent occasions on the zoo replicate a little bit of a microcosm of what conservationists see occurring with wildlife poaching, trafficking and the persecution of animals (like within the case of the dying of the lappet-faced vulture), Ashe stated.

The Department of Homeland Security reports that illicit wildlife trafficking is estimated to be between a $7.8 billion and $10 billion yearly.

These very critical points “are some of the major causes that are driving many of these animal populations toward extinction,” Ashe stated. “We know how difficult it is to protect national parks and the animals within national parks and protected areas from trafficking and persecution.”

Past data of the Dallas Zoo

Three-week-old giraffe named Kendi, reaches up along with his tongue to the touch his mom, Katie’s neck within the giraffe exhibit on the Dallas Zoo on May 26, 2020.

Tony Gutierrez/AP

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Tony Gutierrez/AP

Three-week-old giraffe named Kendi, reaches up along with his tongue to the touch his mom, Katie’s neck within the giraffe exhibit on the Dallas Zoo on May 26, 2020.

Tony Gutierrez/AP

What’s occurred on the Dallas Zoo, and the repeated points there, is tragic and strange, Ashe stated.

“We sometimes have animals escape from their exhibits. It’s not common, but it does happen,” he stated. “I’ve never experienced an instance where someone has broken into an exhibit to steal the animal. Dallas has been working their way through a pretty tragic and unprecedented situation.”

Those intently monitoring the occasions in Dallas have questioned the zoo’s safety measures.

The facility has not been in hassle within the current previous with federal authorities, nonetheless.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection report from 2014 reviewed by NPR mirrored one non-critical compliance difficulty that 12 months. This report stated a keeper error allowed a feminine lion to flee her enclosure in August of that 12 months. “This animal was contained within a hallway however sedation was required to move her back into her primary enclosure,” the report stated.

The USDA’s final inspection within the facility seems to be Oct. 26, 2021, and no points had been reported then, in line with the company’s database.

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which is chargeable for the accreditation of zoos and aquariums, put out a statement this week in help of the ability. The Dallas Zoo is accredited through March 2023 and the AZA stated that accreditation just isn’t in jeopardy.

“Dallas Zoo and its animals are victims of acts, presumably intended to take animals for personal reasons, or worse, to be trafficked. AZA and its entire member community stand squarely with Dallas Zoo and condemn these acts of violence against the Zoo, its animals, and the entire Dallas community,” a press release attributed to Ashe says. “We are anxious for the perpetrator or perpetrators to be apprehended and stopped, and we applaud and support the work of law enforcement professionals who are leading these investigations.”

This second is a chance to be taught, Ashe says

Other AZA members have not reported any form of comparable incidents to what’s been going on the Dallas Zoo, Ashe support.

“They are well-prepared by nature and as ACA accredited members, safety of the facility and the animals that live there are a priority, and we’re hoping that what we’ve seen at Dallas is an isolated event,” he stated.

He did be aware {that a} non-AZA accredited facility in Louisiana has experienced the loss of 12 squirrel monkeys final month. The facility, Zoosiana, stated a person focused that enclosure and the amenities of different primates there.

The Dallas Zoo is prone to put collectively a report on what’s occurred to this point and what went fallacious for the AZA’s accreditation fee, he stated. “There’ll be an opportunity to review what happened. What were the vulnerabilities that led to this?”

This is essential for the zoo and the AZA’s membership to be taught what might be performed to forestall this from occurring sooner or later, he stated.

“It’ll definitely be an opportunity for us to revisit security and see if there are some additional things that that we can do to even better protect the animals that live in our member facilities,” he stated.

Many questions stay unanswered with the Dallas Zoo’s saga. In the meantime, the ability is celebrating the return of Bella and Finn — the emperor tamarin monkeys.