Monkey business at the zoo
Seen anyone wandering around Wellington this morning covered in tiny bite marks? Might just be that they were behind a dastardly plot to steal monkeys from the city’s zoo.
Police are today still searching for the intruder who broke into the squirrel monkey enclosure on Friday night but it seems the little critters were more than a match for the would-be thief.
The zoo’s chief executive Karen Fifield said whoever was involved would have ‘‘some monkey bites, for sure’’ from what she called a ‘‘sophisticated and pre-meditated’’ crime.
At least two of the zoo’s 12 squirrel monkeys were bruised and battered after someone used bolt-cutters to break into their enclosure after the zoo closed on Friday night.
Wellington Zoo team leader of primates Harmony Neale said the monkeys, which weigh only around 750 grams, would have been tough to catch.
‘‘They’re very feisty,’’ Neale said. ‘‘Their best weapon is their teeth. ‘‘But they’re wriggly and can turn in on themselves. They’re very quick.’’
Fifield said the monkeys were ‘‘priceless’’ to zoo staff – but would have posed a serious problem to the would-be thief if they had managed to snatch one.
‘‘If their intention was to have it as a pet, it was a serious mistake. Squirrel monkeys like to be with others, they don’t like to be with humans at all,’’ she said.
‘‘If they were scared, which they would’ve been, they would have been screaming and biting. It’s actually illegal to have these as pets so they’d be difficult to sell.’’
A police spokesperson said staff were in the ‘‘very early stages’’ of an investigation and examining the enclosure. They were asking for anyone with information to ring Wellington Police on 04 381 2000 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.