An emperor tamarin monkey at Dallas Zoo
(Picture: AP)Two monkeys have been snatched from an American zoo - the latest in a string of suspicious incidents to strike the attraction in recent weeks.
The thief cut an opening in an enclosure at Dallas Zoo and took two emperor tamarin monkeys, small primates with long whiskers that look like a moustache.
“It was clear the habitat had been intentionally compromised,” the zoo said in a statement that offered few other details.
The incident comes more than two weeks after a clouded leopard called Nova went missing, sparking a day-long search and the closure of the zoo.
She was eventually found near her habitat, but police said a tool had been used to cut an opening in its fencing. A similar gash also was found in an enclosure of langur monkeys, though none got out.
On January 21, an endangered vulture named Pin was found dead, and the zoo said the death did not appear to be natural.
Zoo President and CEO Gregg Hudson said the vulture had “a wound.”
Ed Hansen, chief executive of the American Association of Zoo Keepers, said he could not recall a zoo facing similar incidents with such frequency.
“It appears that somebody really has an issue with the Dallas Zoo,” Mr Hansen said.
Animals have escaped enclosures from the Dallas Zoo before - most notably, a 154kg gorilla named Jabari which jumped over a wall in 2004 and went on a 40-minute rampage that injured three people before police shot and killed the animal.
