Davion Irwin, 24, of Dallas, Texas was declared mentally unfit to stand trial by a Dallas Judge on Friday, July 28, 2023. On August 1, 2023, he was sentenced to an inpatient treatment facility.
Irwin is accused of stealing multiple animals, including two monkeys and fish, as well as cutting open the enclosures to another species of monkey and a clouded leopard, at the Dallas Zoo. Per court documents, Irwin allegedly waited until nightfall on January 29, 2023 to break into the zoo to steal two monkeys. He then boarded the city’s light rail and went to a vacant home in Lancaster, about 15 minutes away from the zoo, where kept additional animals.
Thanks to a tip, authorities located the vacant home on January 31, 2023. Inside the home, authorities recovered pigeons and cats, as well as dead feeder fish and fish food that had previously disappeared from a staff-only area of the zoo.
Irwin was apprehended on February 2, 2023 after being spotted at the Dallas World Aquarium inquiring about animals there. He was ultimately arrested and charged with two counts of burglary and three counts of animal cruelty.
