The Canberra Reptile Zoo has proven that by using the power of the online community to nab a thief who stole a $400 turtle tank - and tried to steal a baby turtle.

And the case was all wrapped up within hours, thanks to the Facebook army.

The zoo's owner Peter Child said the thief, who was from Sydney, last Sunday, August 13, first prised open an enclosure and stole a baby turtle, putting it in his pocket.

He then brazenly carried the $400 turtle tank from the zoo's shop and out to his car.

It was a busy Sunday for the zoo at Gold Creek and the man was gone in a flash before staff realised he had not paid for the tank.

Mr Child said the man carried out the theft with such shameless confidence that it seemed - initially - nothing was amiss.

"The biggest betrayal to our staff was they've never experienced that kind of deception," Mr Child said.

"We're very, very lucky in Canberra. We have people in Sydney telling us this kind of thing happens all the time. And, it's ironic, that this guy was from Sydney."

Luckily, the baby turtle fell out of the man's pocket without him knowing and was retrieved by the staff unharmed.

The zoo contacted ACT Policing with the man's number plate and gave them time to react.

When it appeared it might be days before officers could attend, the zoo posted CCTV footage of the man and his girlfriend on its Facebook page on Monday.

The post was viewed 73,000 times and within hours the thief had not only been identified, but his girlfriend had come forward to say she was horrified by her partner's actions, had no idea the tank was stolen and had incorrectly been told by him that he had paid for it.

Mr Child said he was contacted online by someone he thought was the man, asking him to take down the video footage.

"I said I would as soon as he provided his credit card details," he said.

The "man" paid for the tank and the footage was removed. Mr Childs later found out it was the girlfriend who had contacted him using her boyfriend's Facebook account and it was she who had paid for the tank.

The thief had in reality apparently shown no remorse and had no intention of paying for the stolen item.

Mr Child said, needless to say, the couple had broken up in the wake of the drama.

Facebook helped to solve the crime not only by people being able to see the footage but also confirming the man's identity once the zoo was given a name and able to view his profile.

Another person could even tell the zoo they recognised the couple from staying at the same hotel as them in Canberra and offered up the right room number for them.

Mr Child if the turtle had been stolen, the zoo would have "pursued the man to the end of the earth" in terms of a prosecution.

At the very least, Facebook helped the zoo to recoup its losses.

"At the end of the day, it's a very, very powerful tool," Mr Child said.

While it had a positive ending, Mr Child was disappointed the footage of the theft got such a reaction while purely beautiful photographs of the zoo's new birds had attracted a much smaller audience.

"Unfortunately it is the way of the world that we're much more likely to react to bad news," he said.