London ? Police ran down leads and the Royal Navy was on alert Thursday in the search for Toga, an 18-inch-tall baby penguin stolen from an Isle of Wight zoo Saturday night, creating a national soap opera.

“We’re all a bit ragged here, to say the least,” said Kath Bright, manager of Amazon World Zoo Park, which has received nearly $13,000 in donations to offer as a reward for the safe return of the nine-pound South African Jackass Penguin.

Sky News, which had a reporter live at Amazon World, showed photos of Toga throughout the day and urged anyone with information to call in.

The saga took a dark turn early Thursday following anonymous phone calls to Amazon World and to GMTV, a BBC morning television show, in which the caller said he had dumped Toga into Portsmouth harbor in a plastic bag.