Cross-country mystery ends after five pets located during Vancouver Island arrest

Photos released by BC Highway Patrol show one shaggy black dog staring curiously into the camera while awaiting pickup.

Five pets that disappeared from Saskatchewan have been found safe after an arrest on Vancouver Island led police to two dogs and three cats travelling inside a vehicle on the Malahat Highway.

BC Highway Patrol says the discovery was made May 24 when an officer on patrol stopped an Ontario-plated sedan near Goldstream Park after learning the driver was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant.

Police said in a statement the warrant from Saskatchewan “was for theft of animals, and those animals matched the description of the two dogs and three cats that were found in the blue sedan.”

The 36-year-old Ontario man was arrested at the scene. The dogs and cats were taken into the care of local animal services.

BC Highway Patrol has not released additional information about the Saskatchewan investigation.

The five pets at the centre of the case that stretched from the Prairies to Vancouver Island have been returned to the Saskatchewan families who had been searching for them.