Monday, July 6, 2009

Pensioner falls victim to bird thieves

A distressed Angus pensioner yesterday said he feels like giving up breeding budgies after some of his best birds were stolen at the weekend.
Jim Shepherd, 79, from Brechin, lost 14 of his budgerigars during a raid on his aviary overnight on Friday.
The action of a heartless thief also almost killed three recently hatched chicks, which were less than a week old.
Both parent birds were stolen, and the chicks were left uncovered in their nesting box for several hours.
Mr Shepherd managed to save them by finding a surrogate mother among his other birds.
Mr Shepherd, who has been breeding and showing budgies for almost 60 years, keeps more than 100 birds in the aviary at the bottom of the garden, behind his Montrose Street home.
He discovered the birds were missing when he spotted three empty cages at about 7.30am on Saturday.
One of the missing birds is worth about £350, and Mr Shepherd said yesterday he thought the thief knew which ones to target.
It was also the second break-in this year. Two birds were stolen after an incident in February.
Speaking about the latest theft, he said: “A couple of them were challenge certificate winners, which have won best in their group at shows. When I came down from the house in the morning I saw I’d left a window open and ran over to shut it.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever left one open, and they seem to have got in that way.
“I saw I’d lost the birds and just panicked. I didn’t find the three youngsters until about 9am. I didn’t see the parents, but thought they were in the nesting box with them.
“It’s a bit bizarre. None of the other cages had been touched, and if it was me, and I didn’t know what I was looking for, I’d have taken the whole lot.
“They could have let all the birds out, so I suppose I’ve been lucky.”
Mr Shepherd said four breeding pairs had been taken along with four younger birds and six eggs. Some breeding birds can change hands for up to £1,500 or £1,600, but he added none of his birds were worth that much.
He said: “You can maybe breed a really expensive one maybe once in a lifetime.
“The ones I lost were good show birds because of their shape and size. I’ve been breeding better birds this year than in recent years.
“You wonder if it was personal or if it was just the birds they wanted.
“I had a show today and had birds entered, but I felt so sick about it I couldn’t go. I’ve thought a bit about giving up, especially as this is the second time.
A Tayside Police spokesman said: “Given the choice of birds stolen, it’s suspected that the person responsible for this theft will have experience in keeping these birds.
“It is requested that any person who has information relating to the theft of these budgies, or any information about their current whereabouts, contacts Tayside Police.”
Anyone with information can contact the police on 0300 111 2222.

(Reproduced from The Press and Journal, 6th July)

GARDIEN TIP: Sadly almost anything of value can be a target for thieves as garden crime continues to grow so follow the free advice at http://www.garden-security.co.uk/garden-crime-prevention.aspx

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