Peafowl, donkey and horse caught up in Alberta truck theft found safe: Mounties

STONY PLAIN – This is the story of a peacock, a peahen, a donkey and a horse caught up in crime.

Mounties say the critters were inadvertently taken in a weekend truck theft in Stony Plain, just west of Edmonton.

The peafowl, Pete and Hilda, were in a crate in the back seat of the white pickup. Spirit, the horse, and the donkey, Badonkadonk, were in an attached trailer. They were driven away in the pre-dawn hours Sunday.

The trailer was ditched first, and then about 30 kilometres west of Stony Plain, two people found the birds, still in their crate, along a highway. The people took care of the animals until they were able to confirm their owner.

Then in the early hours of Wednesday, the birds reunited with the owner, says Jodey Way.

Way, 22, is the owner’s niece.

She was transporting the animals from her aunt’s farm in Elk Point, a town in east-central Alberta, to her family’s farm in Prince George, B.C., with her boyfriend, William Schulting, when the ordeal began.

“It’s so random,” she said in a Wednesday interview.

She said they had picked up the animals from her aunt on Saturday. They loaded them up in the pickup, which belonged to Schulting. 

The birds were going to help guard the roughly 30 chickens that live on Way’s family farm. Way said her aunt also gave her Spirit and Badonkadonk because she couldn’t take care of them anymore.

On their way to Prince George, Schulting and Way decided to rest at a hotel in Stony Plain.

They arrived at midnight.

“We checked on the animals right before we went to bed, which was around 2 a.m.,” she said.

They woke up the next morning before 7 a.m. and noticed the truck was gone.

“It was heartbreaking,” said Way.

Surveillance video from the hotel showed the truck and trailer, with the crate in the back, being driven away at around 3:30 a.m., Way said.

Shortly afterwards, all four animals were abandoned. 

Police notified Way that the trailer had been found the same day.

When she got to it and opened the door, she was relieved.

The donkey, who is 23, was calm. Spirit, who is 10, was scared, she said.

“The horse was shaking. He wouldn’t let me touch him for like the first 20 minutes. The donkey has a very, like, chill personality.”

She said she was glad they were together in the trailer because the horse and donkey are friends.

As for the birds, Way said her aunt was relieved to have found them early Wednesday morning.

Way said she’s not sure what the birds sounded like in the truck during the robbery, but Pete and Hilda, like all peafowls, are known for their shrill call that can carry for long distances. So they were probably screeching when the thieves abandoned them, she said.

Schulting’s parents drove to Alberta and took him, Way, the horse and the donkey back home over the weekend.

It’s not a total happy ending. Mounties say the stolen truck, with a B.C. licence plate, is still missing. 

Schulting and Way said their school textbooks and laptops were also in the truck and they hope to get all items back soon.

Peacocks are male peafowl. The large birds are known for their extravagant feathered tail displays spotted with eye-shaped patterns in green and gold.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2026.