It is a crime caught on camera. However, the main suspect in the robbery is a biped other than human.
Surveillance cameras at Plant and Planters, a Richardson, Texas nursery, recorded an unusual thief breaking into the store: a monkey.
Owner Shelley Rosenfeld first noticed signs of theft when she arrived at her store in the morning and noticed broken pots and soil scattered on the ground.
“We knew we had a theft,” said Rosenfeld. “We went looking at the video trying to see if we can see anything and that’s how it showed up. We kept backing and forwarding, and it looked like a very small person.”
According to Rosenfeld, the store had been victimized by a string of robberies in the past, and she was expecting a human culprit. However, after carefully analyzing the surveillance tape, she was shocked to find the suspect to be a monkey.
“It was a major shock to look at that and see that it was an animal,” said Rosenfeld. “I’ve seen pictures of my cats and dogs on camera. But when you crouch down you saw its little arms: you knew it was a monkey.”
Approximately 40 plants and concrete figurines went missing from the store. The store itself did not sustain damages from the raid, but more than $300 worth of merchandise was stolen.
However, Rosenfeld suspects the monkey didn’t act alone and was trained by its owner.
“I’m sure it had a human accomplice,” said Rosenfeld. “My bet is that they were either training it to move on to bigger jobs or to see if [the monkey] could just do it.”
“To be honest, I’m not surprised,” said Rosenfeld. “I knew a monkey could do this. They have the thumbs. I thought ‘If I’m going to be broken in to by anything, it’d be a monkey’.”
Although rare in both Texas, and the United States, raids conducted by monkeys are nothing strange in New Delhi, India. Hungry Rhesus macaques roam the streets and subways and scale fences of homes and businesses in search of food. New Delhi’s police headquarters has also reported raids by a monkey gang.
Surveillance cameras at Plant and Planters, a Richardson, Texas nursery, recorded an unusual thief breaking into the store: a monkey.
Owner Shelley Rosenfeld first noticed signs of theft when she arrived at her store in the morning and noticed broken pots and soil scattered on the ground.
“We knew we had a theft,” said Rosenfeld. “We went looking at the video trying to see if we can see anything and that’s how it showed up. We kept backing and forwarding, and it looked like a very small person.”
According to Rosenfeld, the store had been victimized by a string of robberies in the past, and she was expecting a human culprit. However, after carefully analyzing the surveillance tape, she was shocked to find the suspect to be a monkey.
“It was a major shock to look at that and see that it was an animal,” said Rosenfeld. “I’ve seen pictures of my cats and dogs on camera. But when you crouch down you saw its little arms: you knew it was a monkey.”
Approximately 40 plants and concrete figurines went missing from the store. The store itself did not sustain damages from the raid, but more than $300 worth of merchandise was stolen.
However, Rosenfeld suspects the monkey didn’t act alone and was trained by its owner.
“I’m sure it had a human accomplice,” said Rosenfeld. “My bet is that they were either training it to move on to bigger jobs or to see if [the monkey] could just do it.”
“To be honest, I’m not surprised,” said Rosenfeld. “I knew a monkey could do this. They have the thumbs. I thought ‘If I’m going to be broken in to by anything, it’d be a monkey’.”
Although rare in both Texas, and the United States, raids conducted by monkeys are nothing strange in New Delhi, India. Hungry Rhesus macaques roam the streets and subways and scale fences of homes and businesses in search of food. New Delhi’s police headquarters has also reported raids by a monkey gang.
