An endangered ring-tailed lemur stolen from the San Francisco Zoo was found at a school playground.
A five-year-old boy spotted the animal playing outside his school, police said.
21-year-old lemur had gone missing from Lipman Family Lemur Forest exhibit Wednesday last. The boy, named James Trinh, spotted the small primate on the playground at Hope Lutheran Day School in Daly City while he was leaving the building with his mother.
Police and zookeepers were contacted about the whereabouts of the missing lemur after Trinh’s mother informed the school.
Hope Lutheran teacher Sarah Riggs said: “He was hopping around the play structures, but ultimately while he was waiting to be picked up, was hiding in the plastic playhouses.
Daly City Police arrived at the scene and safely captured Maki. “We contained him until staff from the zoo took him back home,” the police tweeted.
We found Maki, the stolen lemur from @sfzoo!! Around 5pm, we got a report he was in the playground area of the Hope Lutheran Church. We contained him until staff from the zoo took him back home. Here is Officer Haas with Maki.
We are grateful Maki is home safely! pic.twitter.com/U5rB2RnIxC
— Daly City Police (@DalyCityPD) October 16, 2020
“We do not think he escaped, we think he was taken from the zoo, but we have yet to get confirmation on either of those,” said Ed Pool, chair of the San Francisco Zoological board.
He said Maki was in the care of veterinarians as a precaution due to his being elderly and the potential traumatic effects of his theft and time on the loose. Poole announced to reward Trihn with a lifetime zoo membership.
