MONTREAL — There may be no honour among thieves but they will feed animals.
A tiger and two camels from an Ontario zoo who were the subject of an intensive search and international headlines were apparently fed by the crooks who snatched them in their trailer.
Jonas, a hulking three-year-old tiger, and Shawn and Todd, a couple of graceful camels, looked fit when Quebec police acting on a tip from an alert passerby sped to their abandoned trailer on a country road.
Jonas peered curiously from his cage and one of the camels, wearing what looked like a lopsided grin, craned his neck outside the long silver trailer when it was opened by police.
“They were in great shape,” said Sgt. Ronald McInnis, a Quebec provincial police spokesman. “The veterinarian thinks that the people who stole the animals gave them something to eat and drink.”
Dehydration of the majestic cat had been a big concern as zookeepers feared a lack of water over three days could prove deadly for the missing tiger as temperatures hovered around 30 C.
The camels can go up to 10 days without drinking.
The trailer was located around 8:30 p.m. on Monday, roughly 40 kilometres from the motel parking lot where it was taken on Friday.
The trailer, which has windows, was found sitting on the side of a small paved road under a tree in St-Edmond-de-Grantham, about 90 kilometres east of Montreal.
The trailer and the truck pulling it had been snatched while its driver took a rest break during the long drive bringing the animals from Nova Scotia to the Bowmanville, Ont., zoo.
The truck was found over the weekend.
The discovery of the trailer brought a resolution to at least one element of what McInnis acknowleged was one of the wildest cases ever investigated by provincial police.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen that,” he said of the beast theft.
Police have yet to determine a motive, however. They and zoo officials have said they think thieves were originally after the truck and trailer and got in over their heads when they descovered the exotic creatures.
The case had drawn attention across Canada and international headlines on websites as far away as India, Africa, and Britain’s BBC.
Well-wishes and supportive emails for the Bowmanville zoo, which owns the critters, came from as far away as Australia.
Head zookeeper Stefanie MacEwan said the public will have to wait a little longer before getting a look at the animals in their habitat.
“The veterinarian gave them a good bill of health,” she said Tuesday. “They’re not going to be on display today because the veterinarian wants to take extra precautions, just making sure everything is going well.”
MacEwan said staff at the zoo were “ecstatic” when they got the call that their charges had been found.
The animals were brought back to the Bowmanville zoo around 5 a.m. after being checked by a vet in Drummondville, Que., and after police had a chance to scour the trailer for evidence and fingerprints.
MacEwan said the tiger was “back to his old self.”
“He was happy to see some familiar faces,” she said.
“The camels were doing great. I know myself and one of the other trainers got a nice big slobbery kiss as soon as we saw them,” MacEwan added.
“We’re just glad to have the guys home.”