Is my husband really having with animals?

A few weeks ago, my husband came home and told me he had gotten laid off from the zoo (I'm not going to disclose which one this is, but we are in Southern California). He told me they were having budgetary problems and couldn't keep some of their highly-trained staff (he is a veterinarian who specializes in primates). Since then he's gotten a new job at another zoo in Northen Cali, but we're going to have to move in order for him to get work. Initially nothing seemed out of the ordinary about this except it's going to be really hard for me to relocate and find new friends up north (I work from home so location isn't a big deal). I decided to have a going-away surprise party for him last weekend. This is when it started to get fishy. I guess he had overheard one of my phone calls to someone planning to come to the party, and when he confronted me about it was enraged and asked why I would do a such a thing without telling him. I was really surprised at his behavior, especially when he told me to cancel it because he didn't feel like seeing his old co-workers (said they reminded him too much of getting laid off, which is understandable). So I canceled the party. Then last Tuesday I was at home and he was in the garage and I overheard him talking to someone about how he "didn't have with the monkeys" !!! and how preposterous that was, etc. It sounded like he was talking to some kind of authority or lawyer. Well, that night I asked him about it and he denied EVERYTHING, including the conversation I HEARD with my own ears. Now I can't talk to him about it without getting yelled at for making preposterous claims and I'm wondering what to do, my friends say GET OUT but I love him and I'm petrified of the idea of leaving. What should I do???