The Zoo
Vicktor woke up on Monday morning with a happy plastic smile. It’s not that he loved his job as a guard at the zoo but that he liked what he was able to do because of his job. He worked as a guard in the Aviary at the National Zoo.
When he arrived at work that morning there was a crowd around the kiwi exhibit. There must be something going on he thought. The managers were trying to look in the exhibit. The curious kiwi was gone. Vicktor knew where the kiwi was; it was in his basement freezer.
He had to make sure that the people didn’t suspect him, so he helped by pointing out possible escape routes and hiding places that only a guard would know. As it was getting closer to opening time, the managers and Kiwi caretakers put a sign in the exhibit saying that The Kiwi was out. The next day was the same scene with everyone around the cage of the Toucan. They were even more worried now that two birds had gone missing. Each day for the next week was the same routine for Vicktor. He helped each day by pointing things out about the exhibit that others missed. And he helped in looking around the zoo for suspicious activity.
By the end of that week the managers started asking everyone about their whereabouts and after work activities. Vicktor was always there in the morning, but when they started to ask the hard questions, he was nowhere to be found. No one seemed to have a motive or the opportunity for theft. The managers thought that the person taking the birds would have to do it during the night, and all the employees in the Aviary had an alibi for all the possible times. They now though that that maybe one of the other workers from other parts of the zoo was stealing the animals. Were international thieves using them for illegal trade?
By Friday the 13th, there was only one little, stupid puffin left, and the managers and employees heard news that Juma the lion was gone. This was the oldest animal in the zoo, their prized possession. Now the focus was on interrogating the people who work in the big cat yard.
Vicktor knew that this was his biggest catch. It took him till midnight to drag Juma to his truck. All that he had to do was entice the lion with some juicy meat and load him onto his truck. He had no remorse for taking the animals. He knew how to play the unending game of cat and mouse. Being able to keep the managers guessing and everyone else in the dark was hard work. But it was a game that he was winning, and that was all that counted for Vicktor. Vicktor continued stealing animals, but this time they were from all over the zoo.
One day they held a zoo-wide meeting to talk about the missing animals. They knew that anyone who did not show would have to be part of what was going on. But Vicktor was smart enough to know to be there. The meeting was taking all day, saying things they thought would get the evil person who did these wretched animal crimes to come out. Vicktor was good but not good enough. When they interrogated him the second time, they found a hole in his alibi. He was not able to come up with a good enough excuse for when that first bird, the curious Kiwi, went missing.
Vicktor was a guard for the zoo, so it would seem funny and easy for him to be the one who put the animals in danger. As the police searched his house they found half-eaten bodies of birds and other mammals, and they also found rotting carcases of other animals from the zoo. Vicktor said in interrogation that he just let them rot if they did not taste the good. Vicktor was quoted as saying, “Lion tastes pretty good with enough barbeque sauce and he loved to try new things so maybe next time he will try it with soy sauce.”