Who is Davion Irvin? Man, 24, charged with 6 counts of animal cruelty for stealing emperor tamarin monkeys from Dallas Zoo
DALLAS, TEXAS: Police have captured a man accused of stealing monkeys from the Dallas Zoo. The culprit was arrested near World Aquarium close to animal exhibits following a tip-off.
According to Dallas Police Department, Davion Irvin, 24, has been charged with six counts of animal cruelty. He is allegedly the same individual who was captured on security footage strolling through the zoo from where the emperor tamarin monkeys were stolen while toting a bag of Doritos.
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Stolen monkeys found!
The two emperor tamarin monkeys, Bella and Finn, were found in an abandoned home. One of them was found in a closet. Both they monkeys were unharmed, confirmed police. Davion Irvin was booked into the Dallas County jail on Thursday night, jail records show. Two monkeys were taken from the zoo this week – the latest in a series of bizarre events that have included the escape and death of other animals this month. On Friday, jail records show that Irvin's bail was set at $25,000. It was not immediately known if Irvin has an attorney, as per USA Today.
How was Davion arrested?
On Thursday, Dallas Police received a tip-off about Irvin being spotted at the Dallas World Aquarium near animal exhibits. When officers responded to the tip-off, they saw Irvin get onto a DART rail. Officers later spotted Irvin in the 1400 block of Pacific and took him to Jack Evans headquarters for questioning, the Dallas Police department announced in a news release.
The preliminary investigation and support from the public, according to the police, led to the identification of Irvin as the person they were looking to speak with regarding the missing monkeys at the Dallas Zoo. The image of the man the police wanted to speak to was previously released.
Mysterious death of vulture at Dallas Zoo
On June 13, the Dallas zoo was shut down after a clouded leopard Nova escaped its own habitat through a "purposely cut" hole, MEAWW reported earlier. Following the incident, the Dallas police opened a criminal investigation. It was discovered that there was an "intentional" cut in enclosures that housed Langurs as well as a purposely cut hole in Nova's enclosure, the following day after she was safely rescued from the zoo grounds.
On January 21, Pin, a 35-year-old endangered adult lappet-faced vulture, was found dead in its habitat. The zoo said there were unusual wounds and injuries, determining it was not a natural death. The monkeys were reported to have been taken out of the enclosure on January 29.
