Zoo pleads for return of stolen monkey, lemur and tortoise

May 31 (UPI) -- An Ontario zoo is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the return of a monkey, a lemur and a tortoise stolen from the facility.

The Ontario Provincial Police said thieves cut through a parking lot fence at the Elmvale Jungle Zoo sometime between 9 p.m. Monday and 6 a.m. Tuesday.

The thieves crossed a flamingo pond and entered a barn, where they animal-napped a baby gibbon named Agnes, a lemur named JC and a tortoise named Stanley.

"We have $5,000, a reward from us, and another person has come forward and asked if they could also match our reward, so the reward is up to $10,000 now," zoo spokesman Michel Persi told CTV News.

The exotic animals were valued at more than $20,000, police said.

"They require specialized diets, and they were fed at the same time every day, by their family, the zookeepers who have been here for years and years," zoo spokeswoman Marina Hyugen told Global News.

"They grew up here in this environment so we are hoping to get them back as soon as possible because we don't know who took them, and we don't know what kind of care they are in. We just want to get them back as soon as possible," she said.