A break-in at Zoo Boise early Saturday left a Patas monkey dead from blunt force trauma
to the head and neck and police were analyzing blood found at the scene
to determine if it came from the monkey or one of two human intruders.
Two
males wearing dark clothing were spotted by a security guard at 4:30
a.m. outside the fence near the primate exhibit, police said. Both fled,
one of them heading into the interior of the zoo. Boise police used a
thermal imager in searching the 11-acre zoo grounds but didn't find the
person.
"I've been here for 15 years and we haven't had anything like this happen,"
Zoo Boise Director Steve Burns
said. "It's unfortunate that we have to let kids know that something
like this happens. Monkeys are always among the most favorite animals
here."
Patas monkeys, often called the military monkey, have
reddish-brown fur with grey chin whiskers and distinctive white
moustaches. They are widely distributed across central Africa south of
the Sahara Desert and can live more than 20 years in captivity.
During
a search of the zoo before dawn, Burns heard a groan that at first he
thought sounded human. It turned out to be an injured Patas monkey
barely moving near the perimeter fence.
The zoo's veterinarian was
called, but the monkey died just before 6 a.m. as it was being
examined. A necropsy later determined that blunt force trauma was the
cause of death, police said.
An inventory done by zoo staff found
no other animals missing or injured. The zoo has one remaining Patas
monkey — another male — but it's unclear if it will remain at the zoo or
will be sent to another zoo where it can socialize with other Patas
monkeys, Burns said.
"They're not endangered in the wild, but there are not many in zoos in the United States," he said. "Monkeys are social animals. We only have one."
The
two Patas monkeys came to Zoo Boise about three years ago from Tampa's
Lowry Park Zoo in Florida. They had an outdoor enclosure during the
summer in Boise but were moved indoors to the primate building when colder weather arrived.
Burns
said the monkeys hadn't been given names, and he didn't know their
ages. The monkey that was killed was about 2 ½ feet tall and weighed
about 30 pounds, Burns said.
Burns declined to discuss details of
the police investigation, including how the intruder entered the primate
building, if the monkeys might have been specifically targeted, or how
the monkey ended up near the perimeter fence. The zoo doesn't have
surveillance cameras, he said.
"It's very disturbing that someone
would intentionally break into the zoo and harm an animal," said Sgt.
Ted Snyder of the Boise Police Department in a statement. "We're doing
all we can to find who did this."
Amy Stahl of Boise Parks & Recreation said the death shocked zoo workers.
"They're hit hard," Stahl said. "They care for the animals on a daily basis and they care about them deeply."
The zoo was supposed to open at 10 a.m. but remained closed while police gathered evidence, opening about 2:30 p.m.
Paternity testing for tortoises
