Baby monkey stolen from home

MIAMI, June 24 (UPI) -- Three men wearing masks and black capes broke into a Miami home and allegedly stole $200, a cell phone, a wallet and a feisty baby monkey that bites.

Authorities are not sure if the thieves were after money or the monkey.

"It was the most sinister thing you could imagine," said Dr. Sian Evans, director of South Miami-Dade's DuMond Conservancy for Primates.

Last Sunday, the Miami Herald published a story about Evans, the conservancy and a fundraiser to benefit owl monkey research.

Evans said she was awakened Thursday night and bumped into someone pointing a gun at her in the hallway. She said the intruders demanded money but before leaving they forced her husband, Robert Cooper, to free the money, named Tulip from a cage in the living room, the Miami Herald reported Friday.

Tulip, rejected by her mother, tends to be aggressive with people she doesn't know, and there a good chance the monkey would bite the captors, according to Evans.