Recapture an endangered ring-tailed lemur stolen from the renowned San Francisco Zoo — and get a lifetime zoo pass.
James Trinh got the reward for spotting the lemur, Maki, and he couldn’t be happier. After all, he loves animals — and he’s only 5, The Associated Press reported.
Maki, who is 21 and has arthritis, went missing Wednesday, but zookeepers found evidence that he didn’t walk away on his own: Someone had pried open the door of his cage.
On Thursday, though, James spotted Maki on his way home from preschool, about 5 miles from the zoo. He exclaimed: “There’s a lemur! There’s a lemur!”
But the director of the Hope Lutheran Day School wasn’t so sure. “I thought, ‘Are you sure it’s not a raccoon?'”
Maki darted from the parking lot to the playground and hit in a miniature playhouse. The school called the cops, who called zookeepers. Everybody watched — kids, teachers and even moms and dads – as the caretakers cajoled Maki into a cage, the outlet reported.
The primate is “still agitated, dehydrated and hungry,” but should be back to good health soon, zoo director Tanya Peterson told the AP.
Later Thursday, police booked 30-year-old Cory McGilloway on charges of burglary, grand theft of an animal, looting and vandalism.
A $2,100 reward for locating Maki that the zoo had offered will go to the church, but Peterson wanted to give a little something to James and his family, too — the lifetime membership.
“They literally saved a life,” she said.