A few years ago, a young female meerkat was stolen from the Adelaide Zoo in South Australia [ or it might of been the Monarto Zoo... ] It was a public day, very busy, everyone around. And somehow, someone reached in, picked up a meerkat, shoved her in their backpack, and walked staright out, undetected.

Later on, the zookeepers relized one of the meerkats was missing and called the police. They went on a desperate search for the lost female. A few days later [ this is horrible.. ] she was found, alive, in the backpack, DUMPED in a garbage bin. She was unharmed, thankfully, and was returned to the Zoo. The police believed it was a stupid prank, a couple of idiotic teenagers, whom unfortunately were never found...

I saw this on the news a while ago, before I started loving meerkats... ( November 3rd 2007, first trip to the Zoo was the beginning of my meerkat-loving era ) I was young, and my first impression was Timon, from the Lion King. Such cute little creatures. I felt so sorry for that poor meerkat...

I so relieved she's safe now<3

I was holding my breath till you told us she was safe. Maybe the responsible party(ies) found out that she has sharp nails! Thank God she was found in time.
m.j.

Thank goodness she was ok! Now who would have the nerve to reach into a cage and steal a zoo animal? How awful! But at least they found her safe and unharmed. And I agree with scmeerkatfan I was holding my breath too until you said she was safe.

Thankyou for your comments<3

I was horrified when I discovered the meerkat had been stolen. I was young and knew very little about meerkats, but as a HUGE animal fan, I nearly cried when I found out she had been stolen. It took about 3 days to find out she was fine, but I was so worried (as I do whenever an animal is in danger.) Personally I'm glad I wasn't a massive meerkat-fan back then, otherwise I'd been balling my eyes out

I wish I could remember her name...
]:

But I now know for sure she was a member of the Adelaide Zoo, all of Monarto's meerkats are males!

scmeerkatfan; you're probably right, she would of put up a good fight! ^___^

those teenager's where idiots for stealing a meerkat happy she is alive though.^ ^

They sure were idiots !

I did some research last night and collected a little more information on the meerkat! I made a few mistakes

Her name was Wanda, she was stolen on the 9th April (year unknown.) And they actually found her in a cardboard box (after shoving her into their backpack). And, even better, the theives were found and arrested! A 17-year and 26 year old male pair, both were charged with theft.

Sorry about my mistakes, I only had a memory for a source. :\