This undated photo provided by the Animal Gardens Petting Zoo in Delavan, Wis., shows a Siberian Lynx named Balou, one of two 7-week-old lynx that have gone missing from the facility. Animal Gardens caretaker Danette Vincenti says the staff at the facility last saw the lynx about 5 p.m. Monday, July 3, 2017. Vincenti believes the top of the cats' cage was sliced open to make it look like they escaped. She says it's likely someone stole them and is trying to sell them on the black market. (Danette Vincenti/Animal Gardens Petting Zoo via AP)
Republished July 07, 2017 - 3:54 PM
Original Publication Date July 07, 2017 - 3:11 PM
DELAVAN, Wis. - Prosecutors say a man suspected in the theft of two Siberian lynx cubs from a petting zoo in southeastern Wisconsin said he was quitting his zoo job and had tried to give the cubs to someone else.
Town of Delavan Police Chief Raymond Clark says the 58-year-old Delavan man who was arrested Thursday faces charges of being party to theft of the animals. But the prosecutor's office says a criminal complaint has not been filed.
Assistant Walworth County District Attorney Matthew Leusink told The Janesville Gazette (http://bit.ly/2uTIzoJ ) the man recently told Animal Gardens he was quitting his job and moving back to West Virginia.
Leusink said a woman returned the 7-week-old cats to Animal Gardens on Wednesday after seeing in the news they had been stolen. The woman said the suspect had offered her the cats if she wanted them.
The suspect was released on a $10,000 signature bond Friday.
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This story corrects that prosecutor's office, not the police chief, says a criminal complaint has not been filed.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017