courtesy Dallas Zoo
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UPDATE, 11/24/2025: All charges against Davion Irvin, 27, the man accused of a series of crimes at the Dallas Zoo in 2023, including slashing enclosures and stealing animals, have been dismissed, according to The Dallas Morning News. The two felony burglary charges against Irvin were dropped in June, following the dismissal of all six misdemeanor charges that had been pending for nearly two years, as Irvin had been repeatedly deemed incompetent to stand trial.
A pair of emperor tamarin monkeys named Bella and Fin were found in an abandoned house in Lancaster, a day after being taken from the zoo. The pair had reportedly lost weight but were otherwise unharmed and found with several other types of animals not taken from the zoo, according to police.
The report noted that Irvin had already been in county jail and a state hospital’s inpatient competency restoration program for longer than he would’ve been sentenced for had he been convicted in a trial. “The defendant has successfully engaged in mental health services in the community,” officials with the Dallas County district attorney’s office wrote in the order cited by the Morning News.
Original Article from Feb. 9, 2024 below:
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The man arrested for stealing animals from the Dallas Zoo in 2023 will not face animal cruelty charges after being found incompetent to stand trial, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Davion Irvin, 25, was charged with six counts of animal cruelty after being apprehended a year ago. Police found two emperor tamarin monkeys, Bella and Finn, along with a number of other animals in an abandoned house before eventually arresting Irvin at a DART stop in downtown Dallas. Those charges have reportedly been dropped as Irvin will now be sent to a state hospital for further evaluation.
“After an investigation, Irvin was still found to be incompetent but had already spent more time in county jail than the maximum punishment for his alleged crimes, according to the orders for dismissal filed Monday,” the Morning News report noted.
This is only the latest instance of Irvin being found incompetent to stand trial. In July, he was sentenced to an inpatient treatment facility after a doctor’s evaluation.
Upon his January 2023 arrest, Irvin was candid with police about his involvement in stealing the monkeys as well as his intentions to continue stealing other animals. He had been seen at the Dallas World Aquarium asking employees about various animals there around that time as well. He also confessed to cutting open the enclosure of one of the zoo’s female clouded leopards, Nova, shortly before he took Bella and Finn from their enclosure.
The abandoned house where the emperor tamarin monkeys were found also had cats, pigeons and fish, according to police reports.
Although the misdemeanor animal cruelty charges have been dropped, Irvin still faces two felony counts for the monkey burglary.
