Mike on Crime

THE CANADIAN PRESS
SAINT JOHN, N.B. — A young callimico monkey named April is missing from the Cherry Brook Zoo in Saint John, N.B., after someone jumped a fence, kicked in a door and stole her from an enclosure.
Zoo Director Len Collrin said it appears whoever took the small, black primate, also known as a Goeldi’s monkey, knew what they were doing.
“They walked by a Golden Lion tamarind and went into the third enclosure, let the monkeys out and actually locked two back in,” he said in an interview Wednesday.
“One was still running around in the back hallway and last year’s baby was missing.”
Collrin said the monkey is 12-inches tall and weighs less than a pound, adding that it is a high maintenance animal that requires a special diet and won’t make a good house pet.
“They are small animals, they are very fragile, and they have a special diet,” said Lynda Collrin, director of zoo development.
“We have to order in a canned food with a certain protein ratio, and we have to bring in a special high-protein monkey biscuit.”
She said if someone feeds the monkey grapes and citrus fruits, the baby could go into insulin shock.
Collrin said the young monkey needs to be with its family.
“The whole family unit takes care of the baby, even the juvenile brother takes the baby and carries it,” she said.
Collrin said the parents and brother are very upset.
“They are either hiding…or come up to the fence and are doing a distress call.”
It wasn’t clear if more than one person was involved in the heist.
“It occurred sometime between midnight Tuesday and 8:30 Wednesday morning,” said Sgt. Pat Bonner of the Saint John Police.
A hack saw was used to unsuccessfully cut through a padlock and a hasp, before the door to the monkey’s enclosure was kicked in.
Callimico monkeys are a reclusive and diminutive species native to South America.
Discovered a century ago by Swiss naturalist Emil August Goeldi, the animals are now considered an endangered species in the wild.
The two parent monkeys in Saint John are among a group of 17 brought to Canada in 2005 for a breeding program.
The Cherry Brook Zoo has offered a reward for information that leads to the safe return of the monkey, but — in a direct plea to whoever stole it — Lynda Collrin said she just wants April returned.
“You’ve made a mistake,” she said. “If this animal is returned, there’s no pressed charges, I won’t even ask your name. All I want is this baby back.”
Anyone with information is asked to call their nearest police or Crimestoppers.