ZOO bosses have revealed a number of other animals remain outstanding after they were allegedly stolen.

Last week a pair of 15-year-old Humboldt penguins were returned to South Lakes Safari Zoo after they were reportedly stolen three months earlier.

Rico and Patrik were found after an exotic animal collector bought the birds and discovered they belonged to Dalton zoo.

The zoo's chief executive Karen Brewer said around the same time the penguins went missing a number of other animals disappeared from the zoo.

Zoo staff accompanied police to Nottinghamshire last Wednesday to recover Rico and Patrik and in the hope of finding some macaws and roseate spoonbills they also visited a number of other locations.

Ms Brewer said her staff were left "severely traumatised" by the state of the addresses they visited which they likened to an "animal death camp".

Police and the RSPCA are now investigating those locations with regard to possible offences under animal welfare legislation.

The missing macaws and roseate spoonbills have still not been recovered and police are continuing to investigate in a bid to return them to Dalton zoo.

"On the same night the penguins were stolen macaws and roseate spoonbills were taken too," Ms Brewer said.

"In the hope of recovering them our teams accompanied the police to a number of other sites.

"The Safari Zoo team were severely traumatised by what they saw in front of them.

As this is an ongoing police and RSPCA matter we are taking our lead from them but the words 'death camp' do not sufficiently describe what was encountered."

Rico and Patrik were returned to the zoo on Thursday and reunited with their colony.

The entire colony is now subject to a 30-day quarantine in line with statutory protocols.

n A 23-year-old man from Preston, arrested on suspicion of burglary and theft of the penguins has been released under investigation.