Texas man jailed in Dallas monkey case unrepentant

24-year-old says he would steal more animals if released

DALLAS — A 24-year-old man now linked to a string of crimes that kept the Dallas Zoo on the lookout for missing animals told police that, after he swiped two monkeys from their enclosure, he took them onto the city’s light rail system to make his getaway, court records show.

Davion Irvin also said he loves animals and that, if he’s released from jail, he would steal more, the documents said.

Irvin, who remained jailed Tuesday on $25,000 bond, was arrested last week after asking questions at a downtown Dallas aquarium about animals there. He is charged with six counts of animal cruelty and two counts of burglary. An attorney listed for Irvin in court records did not respond to a request for comment.

Irvin told police that, on the night of Jan. 29, he waited until dark, jumped a fence to get onto zoo grounds, cut the metal mesh of an enclosure and took the two emperor tamarin monkeys, according to arrest warrant affidavits . He then got on the city’s light rail before walking to the vacant home where he said he kept his animals.

Acting on a tip from the public, police found the monkeys, named Bella and Finn, on Jan. 31, a day after they were discovered missing, at the empty home in Lancaster, a Dallas suburb about 15 miles south of the zoo. Multiple cats and pigeons were also in the home, as well as dead feeder fish and fish food that had disappeared from the zoo earlier in January, but had not been reported. Irvin is charged in two of the events over several weeks at the zoo and is linked to another, police said.