Sounding more Hollywood caper than Animal Planet, the saga of Hercules the kidnapped squirrel monkey included a risky heist, an anonymous phone call and a secret exchange on a New Brunswick country road on Wednesday.
The pint-sized primate was nabbed from his cage sometime after the Magnetic Hill Zoo in Moncton closed Tuesday.
Staff inspecting the squirrel monkey exhibit Wednesday morning were distraught to discover that Hercules, the 19-year-old patriarch of the group, was missing, said zoo manager Bruce Dougan.
About four hours later, Dougan said he received a call from a man who claimed to know who had taken the tiny, black-andolive coloured monkey.
"He was pretty sure he knew where Hercules was, and that some young men had stolen him as a university prank kind of thing," Dougan said in an interview Wednesday."
A couple of hours later, the man called back to say he had found Hercules and offered to return the primate so long as the RCMP weren't notified.
Dougan met him on a country road and Hercules was handed over in a cardboard box, apparently no worse for wear.
RCMP were not available for comment.
