Jonas the tiger was fed and watered during the time he was missing. (CBC)

A Quebec man has been charged with theft in the disappearance of a Bengal tiger and two camels from a hotel parking lot last month.

Mathieu Bussières, 22, was charged in Saint-Hyacinthe on Wednesday with possessing stolen goods and breach of parole. He will remain in custody until a bail hearing next week.

A 44-year-old man was also arrested but later released. Police picked up both men on Tuesday night after raiding a farm outside Drummondville, Que.

The disappearance of the tiger, named Jonas, and camels Shawn and Todd on June 18 made headlines around the world as their keepers at the Bowmanville Zoo pleaded for the return of the animals and asked they be given water.

The animals were being transported to Bowmanville, Ont., after a stint with a circus in Nova Scotia, when their trailer was stolen.

They were found on a rural road four days later, not far from where they vanished. A local resident contacted authorities after spotting an abandoned truck trailer.

Tiger was fed

On Wednesday, police said the arrests were made after they found evidence in the barn suggesting the animals had been hidden there.

Objects found in the barn included portable caging, equipment for loading camels into a trailer and harnesses, police said.

Bussières is well-known known at the local store near the property he had been renting with some friends for six months. His arrest was a surprise to the woman who sold him cat food, which he is alleged to have fed the tiger and which police found scattered around the barn.

"He bought some, but enough for a normal cat — not a tiger," Julie Rivard said. "They're very nice people and good clients too."

Bussières' lawyer, André Williams, acknowledged his client cared for the animals.

"He fed them," Williams said. "I don't want to go any further than that, but he did what he did to make sure that the animals remained in good health."

Animals doing well

Bowmanville Zoo had offered a $20,000 reward after the animals disappeared. The zoo did pay a reward but declined to comment on the details.

Zoo director Michael Hackenberger said he believes the thief would have been much happier had the animals' trailer been empty.

"The motive, both the police and I believe, was the truck and trailer," Hackenberger said. "It was a crime of opportunity."

Since their return home, Hackenberger said, the animals have been doing well.

He said Jonas recently celebrated his third birthday and has been shortlisted for the role of the tiger in director Ang Lee's forthcoming big screen adaptation of the Yann Martel book Life of Pi.