The crooks who get the bird

Press, 9 January 1986, Page 16

The crooks who get the bird

The theft of budgies worth thousands has become big business. Now, Interpol is investigating the crime-wave that’s strictly for the birds . . .

By

MARTIN HESP

When top breeders gathered for the World Budgerigar Championships in November, the birds which were not on display were talked about just as much as the 5000 bidding for top honours. They were among the thousands of budgies that have been stolen — victims of a crime wave which is strictly for the birds. Now, even Interpol is involved in tracking down professional bird thieves, who can make thousands from stealing prize budgies and selling them to unscrupulous enthusiasts in Europe, America, and even Japan. Nor is the budgie which sits in a cage in the corner of the livingroom, chirping “Who’s a pretty boy then?” safe from the latest feathered crime-wave. Recently in Britain, a 64-year-old widow, whose two

blue budgies had kept her company since the death of her husband, returned home from shopping to find their cage empty. Said Mrs Doris McCann, of Altham, London: “It was a terrible thing to do to steal my pets. The house was broken into, but only the birds were stolen.” Police eventually traced the birds — Bill and Ben — to the aviary of a nearby budgie fancier. He had seen the birds in Mrs McCann’s window and wanted to add them to his collection. He was fined £5O. But penalties like that will do little to deter professional bird thieves, according to the organisers of major shows, who now use professional security firms to

safeguard the feathered exhibits.

Potential theft is a major problem for officials of the World Budgerigar Championships, where the world’s most valuable budgies are put on display. Held in Doncaster during the first week of November, the championships’ organisers had the headache of ensuring the safety of 5000 Pretty Joeys in the show’s 250 classes. “Budgerigars now seem to be a major target for thieves and the problem is increasingly worrying,” said a spokesman. “The burglar in the budgie cage is becoming more dangerous than a fox in a chicken coop.” “Stealing goes on all the time, said a journalist on the birdman’s Bible, “Cage

and Aviary Birds” magazine. “Week after week, we carry stories covering the latest thefts. The more valuable the birds become, the more thefts we have to report.” Nowadays, top championship birds can change hands for more than $5OOO. “To the amateur, $25 to $5O might sound like a lot to pay for a budgerigar, but there are wealthy foreign buyers who may have their eye on a particular bird and be willing to pay thousands for it for breeding purposes. “For us, a prizewinning bird will be as important and famous as the top dog at Crufts,” says one budgie expert. “A quite-ordinary bird can be worth $5OO nowadays.” Which is why so many are being stolen. Take, for instance, the recent case of one breeder who lost 62 of her top budgies in what has been described as a “professional swoop.” Most people could not tell the difference between the average bird and top championship material. But as Detective Sergeant Brian Blake, who investigated the case, remarks: “The thieves knew what they were looking for.” Said another recent victim: “Waking up in the morning to find your aviary completely empty is simply nightmarish. What vanished during the night was the result of 25 years’ love and attention which my wife

and I have put into our birds. “We know it’s very unlikely the police will be able to catch the thieves, but what really choked us was that, judging by the state of the aviary, we feel sure that some of the birds would have been injured in the raid.” Police think the better birds are exported abroad by thieves. “The top breeders are pretty much aware of what’s on the show circuit and it’s thought that a stolen champion would soon be recognised if it stayed in its own country,” said a

police spokesman. “Professional thieves now even steal to order,” he said. “That’s just the opposite of the other sort of bird theft, carried out often by bored youngsters who, particularly in urban areas, steal birds just for kicks. “We’ve had cases where owners drive round for days finding the odd budgie here and there. It’s an act of vandalism where the birds have been let out of the aviary for fun. “The problem is that bigger aviaries are usually put in the garden away from the house. By their very nature they are of flimsy construction and allow any

thief easy access.” Breeders who specialise in rare hawks and owls are “ even bigger targets for bird thieves. Falconry is a major sport in countries like Saudi Arabia, and international dealers will pay huge amounts for prime speci- * mens. There are strict controls ’ in Britain on the import and export of rare species, but ; when prices in excess of ■ $25,000 are known to have been paid for one specimen, it is not surprising that thieves will go to a lot of trouble, simply to get the bird. (Features International)