TikTok video of lemurs bought on Facebook leads to arrest of Texas woman, cops say
.png "The lemur found by police was malnurished, depressed and in distress, cops said.")
A Texas woman is facing animal cruelty charges after an officer came across a video posted to TikTok showing two illegally-owned lemurs at her home, officials say.
An investigator stumbled across a TikTok video showing the exotic animals, which led to the arrest of a 35-year-old woman, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said in a press conference.
The detective searched “Exotic Pets San Antonio” on the video platform at the end of December when he happened upon a video, which has since been deleted. The video showed two lemurs, which are prohibited in Bexar County, according to an arrest affidavit.
“I found King Julian in San Antonio with a special lady,” the video read, seemingly referencing the character King Julien from the “Madagascar” franchise.
The TikTok user tagged a business called Alamo City Frenchie Cartel in the video. Through this, the detective tracked down the sellers of the ring-tailed lemurs, and he, along with San Antonio Animal Care Services, went to the home where the lemurs appeared to be, Salazar said.
They found one lemur alive in a dog run and the remains of another lemur in an alley near the home. There were also at least 13 dogs on the property, the arrest affidavit said.
After a physical was conducted, the alive lemur was found to be in distress, depressed and malnourished, according to the affidavit.
“The manner in which these primates were kept was cruel and caused undue stress,” Salazar said.
When officers spoke to the suspect, she said she’d bought the two lemurs from a man on Facebook Marketplace for $3,000 after Halloween, according to the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, she told officers that the second lemur died due to injuries from a fight with the other lemur, and she didn’t have enough money to take it to a veterinarian for care.
She was arrested on Monday, Jan. 24, and is charged with two counts of cruelty to non-livestock animals, which is a third-degree felony.
This story was originally published January 25, 2022 at 5:31 PM with the headline "TikTok video of lemurs bought on Facebook leads to arrest of Texas woman, cops say."
