Bowmanville Zoo tiger, camels stolen from Quebec parking lot.

The hunt is on to find two camels and a tiger somewhere on the roads of
Quebec and Ontario.
The animals went missing east of Montreal after a thief stole a pickup truck
outside a motel. The animals were stowed in an attached trailer.
Quebec police say the animals were being transported from a travelling
circus in Nova Scotia to a zoo in Bowmanville, Ont.
Two employees were driving the vehicles, and stopped for the night at the
motel, 70 kilometres east of Montreal.
Michael Hackenberger, director of the Bowmanville zoo, said the theft
occurred between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. Friday morning.
He described the two camels, named Shawn and Todd, as two "delightful"
5-year-olds who like people and provide rides for kids.
"They're real gentlemen, just a pleasure working with them" Heckenberger
told CP24.
Jonas, the tiger, was placed in an internal cage inside the trailer. While
Jonas has a "very nice disposition" and is well-trained, Heckenberger said,
"he still is a tiger."
Municipal and provincial police have set up a command centre and are
coordinating the search to find them, he added.
Caretakers say they are worried about the health of the animals, as they
could suffer from dehydration and malnutrition if they are not found soon.
Police are searching for a black Ford F550 pickup with an Ontario licence
plate of 9091XS. The trailer is an aluminum EBY brand, and has an Ontario
licence plate of E4398Y.
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It had been a mere 15 minutes since the last check on the animals
under his charge that a trainer discovered a tiger and two camels had been
spirited away by thieves.
The exotic animals, belonging to the Bowmanville Zoo outside Toronto, were
on their way home after performing in Sydney, N.S., for a Quebec travelling
circus called the Cirque Estival. 
The missing Bengal tiger, 3-year-old Jonas, who weighs in at about 350 to
400 pounds, is a candidate to appear in the shooting of the coming feature
film Life of Pi. He recently appeared on CBC's The Hour with George
Stroumboulopoulos. 
Shawn and Todd, both 5-year-old dromedary camels, are "excellent ride"
camels and are often used for that purpose, giving rides to children.
The trainer and driver had stopped for the night at an Econo Lodge in
Saint-Liboire, a town about 75 kilometres east of Montreal. After a check on
the animals this morning at 6:30 a.m. the trainer went for a shower.
At 6:45, the truck, a Ford F-550, and Eby trailer carrying the animals was
gone. 
"I'm concentrating all my soul and all my efforts in trying to find what I
consider extended family members that have been stolen," said zoo director
Michael Hackenberger.
Zoo officials said they were worried about the health of the animals as
southern Quebec endures a heat wave. 
"Our biggest concern is that they're in a hot trailer and it's hot out now,"
said curator Rob Clement. "They'd be with people who don't know what they're
doing . . . they absolutely should have water."
In the Cirque Estival show, Jonas would have been shown to do jumps, among
other things, Hackenberger said.
Hackenberger, who was en route to Quebec with the zoo's veterinarian in case
police made a break in the case, said in circumstances like this you think
the worst. 
"We're dealing with thieves," he said. "Are they just going to shoot these
animals to get them out of the trailer so they can chop the truck and
trailer?"
Hackenberger spoke to both the trainer and driver and said they're both
"devastated" by the loss. He called the employees "exemplary" and
responsible. 
"They did everything right," the director said. "They parked in the back,
right in front of the motel room, on the ground floor."
The zoo protocol in transporting animals is to "stay as close to the animals
as circumstances allow," Hackenberger said, as well as checking on them each
hour.
Sometimes drivers sleep in the vehicles while on the road, zoo officials
indicated.
The Bowmanville Zoo is a major supplier of trained animals for the
entertainment industry. Its animals have appeared in hundreds of movies, TV
shows, commercials and live performances. 
Police have no leads from the public so far but are actively looking for the
black Ford and silver coloured trailer, said Sgt. Ronald McInnis,
spokesperson for the Sûreté du Québec. 
Hackenberger defended the zoo's animal transport protocols. "We've moved
animals internationally for over 38 years," he said. "We've moved thousands

Courtesy of Wayne Jackson
of animals over millions of hours and this has never happened in the past."