On January 29th, two monkeys named Bella and Finn, kept at the Dallas Zoo, were stolen from their enclosure, ABC News reported. Before the animals were taken, a man had been questioning zookeepers how they cared for them, and what their routines were. They were unaware that it was in preparation for his plot to steal them.
Police later released camera footage of the suspect to the public, and two women came forward, saying that they had seen the man from the photos leaving a vacant house near the church they attended. Inside the empty home, the missing mammals were found, along with multiple cats, pigeons, and feeder fish that he had taken from the zoo earlier that month.
On Thursday, Davion Irvin was arrested for the animal theft. The 24-year-old then told police that on the night of the monkeys’ disappearance, he waited until dark, jumped a fence to enter the zoo, cut the metal mesh of the enclosure, and left with the two animals. He also confessed to attempting to steal Nova, a clouded leopard that had escaped January 13th, after he was able to break into her enclosure.
Despite facing charges of animal cruelty and burglary, Irvin told investigators that if he were released, he’d continue to attempt to steal animals. According to police, his love for animals surpasses his love of freedom. Irvin currently remains jailed on a $25,000 bond.
