Thankfully the monkeys were not harmed and appear to be in good condition.

What an awful January the Dallas Zoo had. Leopard escaped thanks to someone cutting a hole in the enclosure. A vulture was killed that was on the endangered species list. Finally, two monkeys were stolen from the Dallas Zoo just on Monday. It's the first day of February and the Dallas Zoo is starting off this month with some positive news.

The missing monkeys have been found! The Dallas Police Department gave us an update a little before 7 last night. Apparently an anonymous tip came into the Lancaster police department. Lancaster is about a thirty minute drive from the Dallas Zoo. Someone called in and said the monkeys were at an abandoned residence.

When police went to investigate, they found them in a closet. The good news is, the monkeys have been returned to zoo and they have no reported injuries. The bad news, we still don't know who has been doing these crimes at the Dallas Zoo. No arrests were made since the house was abandoned.

Get our free mobile app

The Dallas Zoo after the killing of the vulture said they were going to beefing up their overnight security and installing more cameras. Then a week later, we had these two monkeys stolen, so something is still not right at the Dallas Zoo.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is partnering up with the Dallas Police Department to investigate all of these instances at the Dallas Zoo. Apparently they have a $10,000 reward for tips that lead to the arrest of any individuals responsible for these crimes.

Letting dangerous leopards out, stealing monkeys, and killing endangered species are some pretty serious charges. We will see if anything else happens at the Dallas Zoo in 2023. The first month of the year has been nothing but bad news for the zoo.

LOOK: Here are the pets banned in each state

Because the regulation of exotic animals is left to states, some organizations, including The Humane Society of the United States, advocate for federal, standardized legislation that would ban owning large cats, bears, primates, and large poisonous snakes as pets.

Read on to see which pets are banned in your home state, as well as across the nation.

LOOK: Stunning animal photos from around the world

From grazing Tibetan antelope to migrating monarch butterflies, these 50 photos of wildlife around the world capture the staggering grace of the animal kingdom. The forthcoming gallery runs sequentially from air to land to water, and focuses on birds, land mammals, aquatic life, and insects as they work in pairs or groups, or sometimes all on their own.

More From 92.9 NiN