Sept. 14 update: The lion statues have been recovered and returned to the garden. Police say no arrests have been made, and their investigation continues.

Police are on the lookout for two stolen lion statues that went missing from a Vancouver tourist attraction earlier this week.

Two rose quartz lion statues have stood guard at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden for three decades. But the "extremely heavy" lions were taken from the garden on Carrall Street in Chinatown sometime between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, police said.

The twin lions are approximately 46 centimetres tall and 60 centimetres wide.

Vancouver Police Sgt. Brian Montague said police are following the usual investigative steps, but "due to the unique nature of the stolen items" they are asking for the public's help to locate them.

Officers ask anyone with more information about who took the lions, or where they are located, to contact officers or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).

The statues' theft is not the city's first lion-related crime in recent history. In March 2014, two lion statues at the south end of the Lions Gate Bridge were vandalized. The statues had their faces smashed and paws damaged.