A woman in Texas has been arrested on animal cruelty charged after authorities discovered she had two illegal lemurs from a TikTok video.
Investigators began looking into Kristy Lee Arredondo, 35, after spotting two lemurs in a TikTok video in December.
Arredondo was charged with two counts of cruelty to a non-livestock animal, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told KSAT.
The video recorded two lemurs in a cage, with on-screen text reading: "I found King Julian in San Antonio with a special lady." Officials were then able to identify her after tracking down her social media business named "Alamo City Frenchie Cartel," reported to be a dog breeding business.
In Bexar County, non-human primates are not permitted and are classed as prohibited animals.
Salazar told KSAT that investigators and Animal Care Services visited Arredondo's home and discovered a caged lemur along with the remains of a dead lemur chucked behind a fence.
Salazar added that the surviving lemur was in distress, while records show it appeared to be "depressed, lethargic and malnourished."
"It was not in very good health," Salazar said. "It was not very well cared for."
Arredondo was consequently arrested on Monday and told deputies that she purchased the two animals for $3,000 through someone on Facebook just after Halloween. She reportedly told investigators that she had believed it to be legal to own lemurs in Texas.
According to reports, Arredondo said that one of the lemurs was injured, leading her to give it an antibiotic used for dogs. The lemur continued to live for just one more week before dying, she said, per the arrest affidavit.
The infographic below, provided by Statista, illustrates America's most popular pets.
In December, popular TikToker Rico Exotic's house in Ohio was raided because he did not have a license to own a grivet monkey in the state.
Rico Exotic said he was not aware he needed a license to own the monkey and claimed to have been told he didn't need one by officials. He began uploading images of his exotic animals about a year ago and now has more than 35 million likes on the app.
In a statement to Newsweek at the time, the Ohio department said: "The Ohio Department of Agriculture received a tip about a grivet monkey at a home in Warren, Ohio. Grivet monkeys are defined as dangerous wild animals under ORC 935.01. ODA enforcement officers conducted a search warrant at the home of [Rico Exotic] on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 and discovered the grivet monkey."
It added that he "does not possess a Dangerous Wild Animal permit through the Ohio Department of Agriculture for this monkey."
Update 01/25/22, 10:02 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a Statista infographic.
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