Police don't know who did it, but someone snatched a lemur and several monkeys from the Santa Ana Zoo, but the lemur turned up at a Newport Beach hotel, along with a note to call police, KNBC reported.
Police do know that the lemur and monkeys were let out of cages after someone jumped over the fence and used bolt cutters to open two cages between zoo closing Friday night and 2 a.m. Saturday.
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Sometime between when the zoo closed Friday and 2 a.m. Saturday, someone hopped the fence, got into the zoo and used bolt cutters to open two cages with lemurs and monkeys inside. https://t.co/pCx9KSOvc2
— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) July 31, 2018
Zookeepers and animal control officers got the capuchin monkeys back in their cage, but the lemur was nowhere to be found.
That was until they got a call.
"While we were setting up a plan to start an area search of the zoo, we got a call from Newport Beach police," Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna told KNBC.
Stealing a lemur is actually a federal crime. Lemurs are an endangered species, Bertagna told KNBC.
"It sounds more like at this point that it was some kind of prank or a challenge because they placed (the lemur) in a public area in a secure box with a note," Bertagana told KNBC.
The animals are all secure in the zoo and are OK after their ordeal.
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