Police in Macedonia have recovered a young baboon stolen a day earlier from the Skopje Zoo by a couple whose daughter was smitten with the animal.
The 26-year-old woman and her husband cut a hole in the wire cage holding 18-month-old Luka, pulled him out, and stuffed him into a black bag before speeding off in a taxi, police said.
The couple took the animal, one of the zoo's biggest attractions, to their home in the town of Kavadarci, some 100 kilometers to the south.
But police, acting on eyewitness accounts, soon caught up with the pair and rescued the baboon, which has been returned to its cage.
"The baby monkey Luka is in good health...and has been reunited with its younger brother," the zoo said.
The couple faces up to three years in prison for theft.
