SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A ring-tailed lemur stolen from the San Francisco Zoo has been found, police said Thursday.
The 21-year-old male lemur named Maki was discovered missing shortly before the zoo opened to visitors on Wednesday.
Investigators found evidence of a forced entry to the lemur enclosure.
Someone called police Thursday evening to say that Maki was spotted in Daly City, a few miles south of the zoo, officials said.
“Around 5pm, we got a report he was in the playground area of the Hope Lutheran Church. We contained him until staff from the zoo took him back home,” Daly City police tweeted.
Maki was found to be in good health and was transported back to the zoo, San Francisco police said in a statement.
Detectives are still investigating the break-in.
Maki was born at the zoo in 1999 and has an offspring in the enclosure, zoo spokeswoman Nancy Chan said.
The outdoor lemur habitat houses seven different lemur species native to Madagascar, according to the zoo’s website. Some are endangered.
“Guests can see the lemurs from several vantage points: from across a surrounding pond, looking eye to eye at lemurs in the trees or gazing down below from an elevated boardwalk,” the website says.