Great Moscow Circus car stolen, organiser pleads for information

The vehicle was reported missing on Monday morning. Photo / Supplied

The Great Moscow Circus is pleading for the return of its circus vehicle which was stolen on Monday.

The Daihatsu Midget had been parked at the Animates carpark while the circus is in Whanganui and was last seen by circus staff early Monday morning.

A few hours later circus organiser Marie Gribben noticed the vehicle was missing. It's believed the vehicle was taken sometime between 9.30am and 10.30am.

Gribben said she was very disappointing the "very unique vehicle" is gone.

"We try to being an international show into small towns like Whanganui, and I'm sure international shows don't come here often," she said.

"Every advertising vehicle we have is important because we try to bring a great show, so it's really sad when this happens."

Gribben said she reported the missing vehicle to police shortly after she noticed it was gone.

"It was a public holiday but I think these sorts of things get put on the backburner by police which is a little bit disappointing because it was [reported] quite early in the piece," she said.

"It wasn't 12 hours later, it was an hour later."

The vehicle was reported missing on Monday morning. Photo / Supplied

Despite the unique look of the vehicle and the attached Great Moscow Circus signage, Gribben was not confident the missing vehicle would be found.

"There are a few people like this in every town, so we're not bagging on the town because there's been a lot of support in the way of people trying to get information or sharing their concerns about it, it's just a pity that there's a few people that ruin us coming to town," Gribben said.

"If it was young people they would probably just take it for a joy ride and dump it, and we would probably have it back already."

The Great Moscow Circus is performing until Sunday and will move to Upper Hutt following its final Whanganui show.