Missing dinosaur models found hanging from tree

Two fibreglass dinosaurs were found in a park in Nicolet Monday, after they disappeared from a popular restaurant on Highway 20 between Montreal and Quebec City.

Restaurant Madrid in Saint-Léonard-d'Aston, Que. is a landmark known for the 75 large dinosaur replicas that adorn the front of the restaurant, facing the highway.

Owner Julie Arel received a call from Quebec provincial police on Monday, informing her that two of the 3 metre-high dinosaur models were found hanging from a tree in a park in Nicolet, 25 kilometres north of the restaurant.

The dinosaur models were discovered by city employees on Monday morning.

Arel said she suspected two were missing from her pack of dinosaurs, but she didn't call police because she figured they would turn up eventually.

She believes pranksters swiped the dinosaurs and put them in the Nicolet River.

"Probably the dinosaurs are going to Nicolet by the river," Arel said.

Nobody knows how the dinosaurs ended up hanging from a tree.

Arel said it's not the first time she has lost some of her dinosaurs.

"Two years ago, some people came to take the dinosaurs and they left the city and somebody called me and said 'Julie! Somebody pass with the dinosaurs on the pick-up!'," Arel said, adding that she found those replicas in Saint-Valère, 30 kilometres southeast of the restaurant.

The dinosaurs found in Nicolet Monday are badly damaged and Arel estimated repairs will cost $4,000.

She plans to review security footage from the cameras outside the restaurant, and she's offering a reward to anyone with information that could lead to the dinosaur thieves.

The world-weary dinosaurs are now back home at Restaurant Madrid.