Until 8 p.m. includes Twin Cities area

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St. Paul police say two early morning bandits snuck into the Como Zoo on Thursday and damaged cash drawers and registers.

It appears the alleged burglars steered clear of the zoo's lions, polar bears, gorillas and other creatures.

"All animals were accounted for and were found unharmed," police said in a statement released Friday.

Other zoos haven't been as lucky. Teenagers in Florida 

 four monkeys and an Amazon parrot two years ago. (Police found the animals a day later in cages and plastic containers in a shed, "perhaps minutes from death.")

A Como Zoo security guard called police just before 4 a.m. Thursday after he noticed a donation box had been moved. Police arrived and spotted two men near the zoo entrance. The men fled, and officers found evidence they broke into the zoo's gift shop, a concession building and a food building in a search for cash.

Zoo officials are still trying to determine what might have been taken, police said. The surveillance images, released by investigators, show that one of the men wasn't exactly camera shy.

Police have asked anyone who recognizes the suspects or has information about the case to call 651-266-5771 or 651-291-1111.

Minnesota News

The Cities Blog

Madeleine Baran

Author

St. Paul police say two early morning bandits snuck into the Como Zoo on Thursday and damaged cash drawers and registers.


Como Zoo burglars seek cash, not animals

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