It has been an unprecedented month for the Dallas Zoo. National attention has zeroed in as the zoo was enveloped with mystery after mystery.
The events surrounding cuts in the enclosures of a clouded leopard and langur monkeys, a dead vulture and the nabbing of two bearded emperor tamarin monkeys raised a host of questions about the supposed perpetrator or perpetrators and the zoo’s security protocols. Authorities are still piecing together the string of incidents, but on Thursday Dallas police arrested Davion Irvin, 24, after he was spotted near an animal habitat at the Dallas World Aquarium.
Police said Irvin faces a burglary charge in connection to the two stolen emperor tamarin monkeys. He faces an additional burglary charge related to a cut habitat for a clouded leopard and a police spokeswoman said he is also connected to a cut enclosure for langur monkeys.
In total, Irvin faces six charges of animal cruelty and two charges of burglary. His bail was set at $25,000, according to jail records.
An arrest-warrant affidavit provided more details into how authorities connected Irvin to some of the incidents in the last month. Here’s what we know so far:
Monkeys taken between Jan. 29 and 30
A little before 5 p.m. on Sunday, a Dallas Zoo zookeeper saw the tamarin monkeys secured inside the exhibit. The following day, according to the affidavit, another zookeeper discovered that someone cut the exterior fencing, entered the tamarin exhibit through an unlocked door and cut the cages.
Someone then took the two monkeys, named Bella and Finn. Police reported the disappearance of the monkeys a little before 4 p.m. Monday.
When police arrived, they saw the metal mesh of the door’s enclosure was “cut and bent in a manner and size for a person to both reach into and/or gain access to.”
Police found no other signs of entry in the tamarin monkey enclosure. In addition, they said no cameras would have observed the nabbing, and a key was not needed to enter the general area.
Since the incident, the zoo was closed from Monday to Friday as a winter storm enveloped North Texas. It reopened on Saturday to normal operating hours.
Asking ‘common and obscure questions’
Leading up to the disappearance of the tamarins, a man which police later identified as Irvin, asked staff members common and obscure questions about several animals at the zoo, including the clouded leopard, the bearded emperor tamarins and a newly born Gibbon ape, the affidavit said.
Staff members also told police they saw Irvin going into staff-only areas of the children’s zone.
Police learned from staff members that Irvin asked staff where the tamarins were located and housed and “how do you get the animals in cages at night.” The affidavit said he also inquired about the status of the recently re-captured clouded leopard and the safe housing and handling of the Gibbon.
Irvin was also seen entering nonpublic areas around the tamarin enclosure as well as looking through windows into areas not accessible to or for public showing, according to the affidavit.
Tip from pastor’s family
The son of a pastor of a Lancaster church – the Family Center Church of God in Christ – called Dallas police on the same day authorities released a photo of Irvin from the zoo, identifying him as a person of interest, the affidavit said.
The son told police that multiple church congregants said Irvin “was known to frequent” the vacant house adjacent to and owned by the church. The affidavit said police spoke with the pastor and gained his consent to search the area.
Once police searched the area, they found two animals that had “consistent markings and features” of the missing tamarins in a bathroom inside the residence.
Family members of the pastor told The Dallas Morning News they called the police. They added that they were shocked by the revelation but suspected unusual activity at the community house since just before Christmas.
The house is located about 20 minutes from the Dallas Zoo.
What else was found at the house?
While searching for the tamarins, police were greeted to a grisly sight in the community house. Among the things police found included cat feces, building material debris, mold and mildew on various surfaces and dead animals inside, the affidavit said.
Police also found multiple cats and pigeons. In the bathroom the monkeys were in, police saw bird feces, bird feathers and a pile of wet moldy articles of clothing in the shower pan area, the affidavit said.
They also found items that matched stolen items from the zoo in early January – fish flake food labeled Otter and dead feeder style goldfish. Officers also found Nike shoes that matched the ones the person of interest wore in the public photo circulated by police, the affidavit said.
Interviews with neighbors and family
Police also spoke with witnesses who live across the street from the vacant community house, the affidavit said. Neighbors told officers that Irvin lives next door to the building and frequents it often.
Officers also spoke with Irvin’s family who didn’t “positively identify him” but said the image police released of a person at the zoo looked like him.
A man who identified himself as a family friend — and who was listed as Irvin’s potential relative in public records — told The Dallas Morning News that Irvin was innocent.
Tip from the aquarium
On Thursday, police got a tip of a person matching Irvin’s description at the Dallas World Aquarium in downtown Dallas.
The affidavit said he was asking questions that included means and ways to catch animals. Authorities said he was also touching an animal habitat, “specifically a mesh enclosure” akin to the tamarin enclosure at the Dallas Zoo.
Officers stopped him less than half a mile from the aquarium on the 1400 block of Pacific Avenue and arrested him. He was booked into Dallas County Jail Thursday night, according to court records.
CORRECTION, 3:30 p.m., February 8, 2023: An earlier version of this story misidentified the type of primate a Gibbon is because of an error in an affidavit. A Gibbon is an ape, not a monkey.
