Protected lemurs, tortoises stolen from Tokyo research institute cages

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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20030629a3.htm

Sunday, June 29, 2003

Protected lemurs, tortoises stolen from Tokyo research institute cages

 

Rare lemurs and tortoises were stolen from a research institute in Tokyo's

Setagaya Ward on two occasions in May, the police and officials of the

institute said Saturday.

 

On May 15, a researcher who arrived in the morning at the Research Institute

of Evolutionary Biology discovered that a ring-tailed lemur and three

radiated tortoises had been stolen, they said.

 

Sometime between the afternoon of May 22 and the following morning, a brown

lemur, a ruffed lemur and two black lemurs were also taken from the

facility. In both cases, the locks on the doors to the animals' cages had

been forced, they said.

 

The police are investigating the incidents as theft. Commercial trade in the

lemurs and tortoises is prohibited under the Convention on International

Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

 

The institute, which has close ties with the Tokyo University of

Agriculture, raises animals, including about 100 monkeys, for research into

their evolution.

 

The institute was unmanned when the two incidents occurred.