A zookeeper in Japan was recently caught stealing the chimpanzees’ food supply.

The police were notified of a series of thefts at the Tennoji Zoo located in the Osaka prefecture - discovering strange amounts of missing fruits and vegetables from the animal food bank.

South China Morning Post reported that the police narrowed their search, leading to a 47-year-old man who worked in the zoo’s Animal Care and Breeding Showcase department.

The zookeeper was spotted sneaking out the monkey and chimpanzees’ food supply earlier this month on Tuesday (October 1).

ALSO READ: Thieves steal Venezuela zoo animals to eat them

However, the police are still looking into the culprit’s motive for his act.

Following the incident, the century-old facility director Kiyoshi Yasufuku issued an apology and the facility apologised for “hurting people’s trust”, as quoted, pledging to take strict action in the case.

The zoo was also previously reported to have mistaken a 12-year-old female hippopotamus for male after its arrival in 2017.

ALSO READ: US man pleads guilty to stealing rare lemur from zoo