Zoo Pals Rescued From Tupperware
An anonymous tip saved four rare monkeys and a parrot from certain death
Keith Lovett
Animals stolen from the Palm Beach Zoo survived a hair-raising experience.
An anonymous tip led police to a grisly find behind a shed in Palm Beach County.
Three squirrel monkeys, a Goeldis monkey, another rare primate, and a parrot were sweating it out in of all things - Tupperware containers.
The animals were stolen from the Palm Beach Zoo earlier in the week and apparently had been stored in the abandoned house by the criminals. The animals were given fruit and a fan, but the sweltering heat had already begun to take its toll on the zoo pals.
One of the squirrel monkeys, Dougie, was placed in an oxygen chamber after suffering the effects of the hair-raising experience.
"If they were kept in the condition we found them in, at least the three squirrel monkeys would have died sooner than later," one zoo official said.
The tipster also appears to have given the names of the culprits, but police haven't released the details of what was said. The animals would have fetched more than $30,000 on the black market.
Posted Friday, Sep 11, 2009 - 2:20 PM EST
