Why did the dinosaurs disappear? Well, this one was taken by thieves from a Burnaby backyard

A dinosaur believedtodateback to the Expo 86 ageand whose migratorypath included a sojournat a Vancouver car dealership and a spell on the roof of a city residence has vanished from its last known nest.

John Anderson,the owner of theBurnaby, B.C.,property where the five feet tall, 80-poundvelociraptorreplica named Fred had been living for the past 20 years, says his family's adoptedmascot was stolenfrom their backyard.

Anderson says he noticed the fibreglass modelhad gone missing on Monday and called police.

"First of all, they laugh," he said. "Then they go, Oh, that's horrible. How could anybody do that? And the second question is, why would anybody do that, you know?"

RCMPspread word ofthe theft on Twitter, saying they were "dinosaur-y" to report Fred's disappearance.

Anderson, explaining Fred's long and varied backstory,saidhe believes the reptile replica hadoriginally come from the Alberta pavilionat Expo 86 in Vancouverand was sold to acar dealership on the city's Marine Drive when the fair ended.

Some years later, when the dealership was redeveloped, the dino found itself atop arental home rooftop until it was banished by an angry landlord.

That's when the Andersons found Fred, abandoned at the roadside by the renter withasign around its neck saying: "Need a good home, don't eat much."

Anderson says the fibreglasscarnivorehad longlost its fearsome lustre the lights inside its eyes were gone,andits bony skull became a favourite lookout for the family cats.

"[Fred]grew up with my children and, you know, my cats like him. They like to use it as a perch. Keep an eye on things, you know," he said.

Serial thief or Jurassic lark?

Anderson said police are doing what they can, but his neighbours in Burnaby Heights have told him there have been other unsolved thefts from their yards most notably a concrete Buddhastatue.

He said neighboursarechecking home security videos for any evidence of the thieves.But Anderson says he isn't holding out much hopeand wonders if Fred might have been once again dumped at the side of a road somewhere.

"It's gonna be hard for anyone to fence ...there's probably only one of these around," he said.

"How would you like it if somebody came and stole your dinosaur?"

Anderson said his family would be very happy to get Fred back, and would accept the dinosaur's return with no questions asked.

When CBC News contacted Burnaby RCMP for comment, it confirmed it was investigating the theft andreferred to the force's original tweet about Fred's disappearance.