Pyrenees-Atlantiques Zoo: 14 monkeys stolen, including endangered species
Fourteen monkeys have been stolen from Lescar Zoo near Pau. Among them are emperor tamarins classified as critically endangered.
Theft at zoo: disappearance of rare primates
Nine marmosets and five emperor tamarins were stolen from Lescar Zoo, near Pau, in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques, announced on Tuesday 27 October 2026. According to ouest-france.fr, Guillaume Darzacq, director of the park, confirmed the theft to the Agence France-Presse. Emperor tamarins belong to a species classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The director stated that these animals formed "entire families, with young" and represented "a small fortune on the black market". He estimated that the monkeys had probably been "purchased before the theft", explaining that the enclosure had a secured window open at the park's opening — a window that can normally only be opened from the inside.
Darzacq expressed his fear that these animals, "removed from disgusting cages in trafficking operations", would return to those miserable conditions. His establishment, which houses 300 animals, takes in more than half of them from cases of mistreatment or illegal trafficking.
Rodolphe Jarry, public prosecutor of Pau, confirmed the opening of an investigation entrusted to the local police station. Wildlife trafficking constitutes a major global commerce. According to a Senate report, this trafficking concerns more than 4,000 animal and plant species in more than 160 countries. Interpol estimates the overall amount of this illegal market globally at at least 20 billion dollars per year.
Source: BFM TV