Two emperor tamarins that disappeared from a zoo in the US city of Dallas have been found alive. With the help of local police, emergency workers discovered both monkeys in an abandoned house in Lancaster near Dallas, Texas, Dallas police tweeted Tuesday night.

She also published a photo of a monkey sitting on a wire frame. The animals were found in a closet, it said. At first they did not say how the investigators came to look in the house.

The zoo tweeted that it was "overjoyed" that its residents had been found. The police have informed the zoo to bring them back safely from the place where they were found. Shortly before, police had used surveillance camera footage to ask the public for help in identifying a man who may have information on the monkeys' whereabouts.

The marmosets disappeared from the Texas city zoo on Monday. According to the zoo, her enclosure had apparently been "deliberately" damaged. Initial investigations pointed to theft.

Her disappearance joins other puzzling incidents that have not yet been resolved: in mid-January, a clouded leopard broke out of its enclosure, as reported by the Dallas Morning News newspaper. After an intensive search, the big cat appeared unharmed on the zoo grounds. Suspicious damage was also discovered in their enclosure. About a week later, a vulture was found dead in its enclosure, according to the newspaper. According to the zoo, an autopsy indicated that the bird died "not from natural causes".