Toronto, June 19 (IANS) Canadian thieves may have been looking for some quick booty when they stole a huge truck-trailer from a motel near Montreal Friday night. But their problem that the truck trailer - which has not been traced so far - carries a deadly tiger and two camels.

Unaware of their dangerous booty, the thieves are still somewhere on the highways, the Canadian Press reported. The animals were being transported from a circus in Nova Scotia province to a zoo in the Toronto area.

The thieves struck when the driver and two animal handlers stopped for night stay at the motel, about 60 km from Montreal.

But when they woke up Friday morning, they discovered that the trailer was gone, the report said.

Police said a trailer-theft ring which has been active in the area didn't know that they were stealing dangerous animals.

'Our suspicion and the police suspicion is that it was just an opportunity crime,'' the Canadian Press quoted Michael Hackenberger, head of the Bowmanville zoo which was to receive the animals. 'They saw a truck and trailer and stole the truck and trailer, not being aware of what the contents were.

'I have been in this game for 38 years and I have never had this happen.''

Hackenberger said he is worried that once the thieves realise their stupid mistake of stealing dangerous beasts they won't open the doors of the trailer to give them fresh air. As a result, the tiger and the camels could die in the hot weather.

'There is no upside to trying to open the trailer: the tiger is dangerous, the camels are big,'' the zoo head quoted as saying.

Police are frantically searching the highways for the stolen beasts.