Is there a theft ring for zoo animals?

(NewsNation) — Suspicious events happening at the Dallas Zoo have left some questioning whether the incidents are connected.

The 24-year-old man arrested Thursday in connection with a case involving two missing emperor tamarin monkeys at the Dallas Zoo now faces additional charges of tampering with animal enclosures.

The Associated Press reported Friday that Davion Irvin is accused of cutting holes in fences to enclosures for a clouded leopard and langur monkeys.

Last week, a lappet-faced vulture was found dead in its enclosure with a wound that zoo officials described as “not natural.” The investigation into that incident is ongoing.

“The whole situation is very suspect,” zoologist Jarod Miller told NewsNation host Ashleigh Banfield on Friday. “The probability of this stuff happening is extremely, extremely rare.”

Miller questioned whether there is some sort of trafficking taking place with these primates.

A Dallas police spokesperson said officers were still investigating whether there’s any connection to the suspicious death of an endangered vulture at the zoo.

Officers received a tip Thursday that Irvin was seen at the Dallas World Aquarium near the animal exhibits, police said.

After police questioned Irvin, he was charged with six counts of animal cruelty-non-livestock in connection with the case and taken to the Dallas County Jail, the department said.

“I think beyond this further investigation, we’re definitely going to be seeing more charges coming down the pipeline,” Caitlyn Becker, a senior reporter for DailyMail.com, told “Banfield.” 

‘If there is a larger conspiracy at hand here, it could be a question of asking this alleged perpetrator to maybe give them some more information before they would file these charges,” Becker added.

A former Dallas Zoo security guard told NewsNation that the people who should be protecting the animals are “failing at their job.”