Monkey Burglars

NBC -- It's a crime caught on camera that has the owners of a north Texas business going bananas.

They have security camera video of what appears to be a monkey burglarizing their business.

Ellen Goldberg has more on the bizarre break-in.

"Definitely never been robbed by a monkey before," says store co-owner Jerry Duncan.

Yes, a primate is the prime suspect in the latest break-in at this Richardson, Texas nursery.

"I said no way until I look at it and said this is crazy," said store co-owner Shelley Rosenfeld.

The owners of "Plants and Planters" are convinced that's a monkey in the bottom left hand corner of the security camera tape.

"You can see the back legs the front arms and the white head," observes Duncan.

And with the help of a human accomplice, Shelley Rosenfeld believes the monkey was trained to steal several hundred dollars worth of her merchandise.

"He went out in this section out here and handed plants over the gate," she days.

About 40 plants were missing the next morning. There were also pieces of concrete shattered in the parking lot.

"They need to train him better if he is going to do the big jobs," Duncan adds with a laugh.

For now, Richardson police are stuck with the job of figuring out who or what this is.

"I wouldn't think there would be too many monkeys in this city," Duncan says.

Of course, its easy to 'explain' a monkey break in by saying that a human trained the monkey to steal plants, and apparently break concrete. The reality of this is far worse, and the authorities are asking the wrong questions altogether. What we should actually be wondering is, is 'How do 40 plants benefit the monkey part of the Animal Uprising?"

The fact that I have no idea how to answer this question should be even more worrisome ... to everyone.