Photo: Dallas Police Department
The Dallas Zoo is beefing up its security after a series of suspicious events that occurred on zoo grounds over the past month or so.
Security improvements include enhanced perimeter fencing, more security cameras and updated lighting, FOX 4 reports. There'll be an added presence of overnight police patrols as well as an outside security expert to assist. These added measures, however, don't make the zoo feel like a "prison," the zoo's associate director Seane Green said.
"You gotta balance a fun family educational facility and not look like you're literally down in Huntsville," Green said.
The zoo continues to investigate the string of bizarre events that have been happening since January. Most recently, an arrest was made in the case of the missing emperor tamarin monkeys — and the suspect, Davion Irvin, reportedly confessed to the crime and even admitted to trying to steal a clouded leopard and cutting a hole in the fence of a separate monkey enclosure. Irvin said he "loved" animals and would do it again should he be released from custody. It remains unclear if he was responsible for the "unusual" death of one of the zoo's endangered vultures.
Earlier this month, a separate Texas zoo was hit with some suspicious activity of its own. The Houston Zoo discovered a 4-inch hole in the mesh enclosure at the brown pelican exhibit inside its John P. McGovern Children's Zoo. "They immediately determined that the animals in the exhibit were secure and unharmed, and then alerted the zoo's security team. The gap appears to be the result of vandalism," Houston Zoo spokesperson Jackie Wallace said. Zoo crew checked all other animal exhibits to make sure no other areas were impacted, but they didn't find any reason to believe there were any other instances of vandalism anywhere else. Houston PD was also alerted and checked out the area, too.
"We will not tolerate the theft or endangerment of any of our animals, big or small. These animals represent their wild counterparts and are entirely dependent upon the care of our staff. Actions that threaten that care are unacceptable, dangerous and criminal," Wallace said, adding that the Houston Zoo is ready to "prosecute to the fullest extent allowed by law" anyone who compromises the animals.