Parrot theft

I tried to post this in announcements (because that’s what it is) but was unable to do so.

It’s not lost & found either so I put it here.


Heard about this on the news this morning and as it’s in my “back yard” so to speak I wanted to put out the word.

4 parrots all babies I think were stolen from this store.
No real discription of 3, the forth is a Lorakeet and I don’t know if it’s a baby or not.
Was tempted to call for more info not sure if it’s a good idea or not.

https://www.pe.com/2018/12/12/thieves-hit-menifee-bird-store-for-third-time-this-year/

That’s the same store I’ve seen in videos with people trying to steal birds! I bet the only reason they want to steal the bird is to sell it, if they actually were going to care for it, they would have bought the bird. People like this need to be stopped. I think from so much theft at this point, this store needs to reinforce it’s security or closely monitor when a person takes the bird outside it’s cage to ‘pet them’, or just not let people pet or take out the birds at all. Keep the birds inside the cages, and maybe they could even have a worker standing by the door or near the door to punch them in the noggin if they try to take off with it! So the birds don’t get depressed, a worker should take out the birds one by one to maintain them, and always have the bird next to them. I know they will have less social interaction with people if they don’t let people pet the birds, but I’d risk that over people stealing and selling birds from the store! Jeez Louise may all the stolen birds be safe!!

3 times in one year, they really need to step their security up. As they want the birds to be allowed to 'roam' so to speak they need to set up a bird room that's locked and when someone wants to get up close and personal they go in the room with an employee. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that people will get sticky fingers when tempted. I used to work for a store selling those online pre-paid cards (which don't have money on them until activated during purchase) and people would constantly be stealing them. The reality is some people will take anything not nailed down.

also just going to add that if a customer is able to grab an extremely young bird still requiring feeding then they are not a good place. The babies needing feedings shouldn't be "on display" they need peace and quiet so they can sleep and grow and not become petrified of folk poking and prodding at them

Wut? People are usually allowed to take animals out of their cage without supervision??!!

Educate a simple european person plze: is this normal in the USA?



Sorry- of course theft always shocks me, but this is ridiculous!

ChristaNL said:

Wut? People are usually allowed to take animals out of their cage without supervision??!!

Educate a simple european person plze: is this normal in the USA?



Sorry- of course theft always shocks me, but this is ridiculous!

Click to expand...

it's not that they take them out the cage, the birds are just allowed free reign all day and go to their cages at night. I've seen a few american places do this but normally it'll be 1 or 2 parrots allowed in the main store (often the store owners own pets) and the rest stay in a bird room

Ah, thank you, that makes it a bit more clear


So the thieves made off with the free range parrots and some defenseless babies?
(insert some colourfull swearing at this point)

This is becoming so commonplace, people have caught-on to the fact that parrots are as expensive as pure-bred puppies/dogs...

There was a theft in the pet store in the Nittany Mall here in State College around 6 months ago..A woman walked right into the store, walked around a little bit, waited until all the employees (2 of them) were both in the back room getting things for other customers (feeder insects), and then she just walked right past a Pineapple Green Cheek baby on a perch, grabbed her with one swipe, shoved her inside of her jacket, zipped it the whole way, and was off back into the mall...Their security camera caught the entire thing and got her face clearly in a close-up...They put it on the local 5:00 news and she must have seen it and knew she was caught on camera, because she immediately brought the bird right back to the store and apologized, and the owner chose to not press charges against her...She told him that her kids wanted a parrot but she couldn't afford to buy one for them, so she decided to steal one...She'll probably just do it again somewhere else...

This is where a lot of pet stores go wrong...I totally agree with having the birds out of their cages all day long, but you have to segregate them from the open part of the store...put them behind a huge glass window in a room with a door, and require an employee to bring the bird to them or to let them into the room...Unless we're talking about large parrots that are hanging-out behind the counter or something...Otherwise this is just going to keep happening, especially with the smaller species that can just be shoved into a bag or a jacket...

I hope one of these birds that is stolen chomps-down on the thief's fingers right in the middle of the store and it's caught on video...

exactly my sentiments Ellen! It would be lovely to live in a world where it's not something to worry about but theft happens and there needs to be measures put in place to deal with it. As someone owning a shop you need to think like a thief who just wants to make off with stuff as fast as possible. Surely the 2 thefts in 7 days should've tipped the store owner off that they need more security. In fact theft is a reason why one bird... store?/farm?/Breeder? not sure what to call it (I say Farm in a good way FYI just before bad thoughts are had of the place) they only let people in to the place with an appointment, you check in at the reception then an employee takes you round, all very professional like. Sure it inflates the price a bit but I would always rather pay more for a good parrot than go as cheap as possible