5-year-old who helped San Francisco zookeepers track stolen lemur gets lifetime zoo pass

San Francisco Zoo officials rewarded a 5-year-old boy who helped recapture endangered primate ring-tailed lemur with a lifetime membership. James Trinh got reward for spotting lemur, Maki who is 21 after it went missing on Wednesday. Zookeepers found evidence that lemur didn’t walk away on his own and someone had forced entry at his enclosure.

ft of Maki, who is arthritic, made headlines on Wednesday in San Francisco and beyond. Five-year-old Trinh was unaware of headlines when leaving his preschool on Thursday in Daly City. About 5 miles from zoo, Trinh exclaimed, “re’s a lemur! re’s a lemur!” Cynthia Huang, director of Hope Luran Day School, told media on Friday according to news ncy Associated Press. Initially, Huang was skeptical about child's claims. “I thought, Are you sure it’s t a raccoon?” she said.

Maki scurried from parking lot into school’s playground and took shelter in a miniature playhouse. school called police who quickly alerted animal control and zoo officials. children, teachers and parents watched as caretakers arrived and coaxed lemur into a transport c, Huang said. Also on Thursday, police took 30-year-old Cory McGilloway into custody for stealing  ring-tailed lemur, San Francisco police said. 

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'Maki's getting stronger every day'

Soon after lemur was safely rescued and returned to zoo  San Francisco Zoo officials gave an update about Maki over its Twitter handle. It said "Our Maki's getting stronger every day and slowly getting reacquainted with his family! Stay tuned for our “Welcome Back, Maki, Day of Celebration!”". Maki was born at zoo in 1999 and has an offspring in enclosure. outdoor lemur habitat houses seven different lemur species native to Madagascar and many are endangered.

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