{"id":1446,"date":"2025-03-26T12:44:54","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T13:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/?p=1446"},"modified":"2025-03-27T11:28:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T11:28:01","slug":"exotic-bird-stuffed-in-thiefs-shorts-then-returned-by-woman-in-balaclava","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/26\/exotic-bird-stuffed-in-thiefs-shorts-then-returned-by-woman-in-balaclava\/","title":{"rendered":"Exotic bird \u2018stuffed in thief\u2019s shorts\u2019 then returned by \u2018woman in balaclava\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"A\t<\/div>
The stolen bird\u2019s partner was devastated (Picture: Chris Radburn\/ Animalistic Pets Henlow)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A prized bird was \u2018stuffed down a man\u2019s shorts\u2019 and stolen from a pet shop, before being \u2018returned by a woman in a balaclava\u2019 the next day.<\/p>\n

The beloved kakariki \u2013 worth up to \u00a3150 \u2013 was nabbed from Animalistic Pets in Henlow last Friday.<\/p>\n

CCTV from the shop shows a man and a woman breaking into the aviary before he stuffs it down his grey shorts.<\/p>\n

The shop issued a desperate appeal on social media<\/a> for the rare bird to be reunited with her \u2018distressed\u2019 kakariki boyfriend.<\/p>\n

The next day a different woman in a balaclava returned in a cage to the shop.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Prize\t<\/div>
The man appeared to have the bird stuffed down his shorts (Picture: Animalistic Pets)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The kakariki, up for sale alongside her partner were sitting in their cage when CCTV stills, posted by the shop online, appear to show a man and a female accomplice walking in to the shop.<\/p>\n

He seems to have crawled into the bird cage and then walked away holding the bird stuffed down his shorts. The woman, in a bucket hat, walks behind him as they leave the shop.<\/p>\n

The remaining bird and Animalistic\u2019s staff were devastated.<\/p>\n

Manager of the shop Becky Norris told Metro<\/strong>: \u2018I am gutted, I have cried so many times.<\/p>\n

\u2018While we have the animals here we love them. <\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Shop\t<\/div>
Shop assistant Maisie Fleckney with the mating pair of kakariki parrots. The yellow bird is the female one stolen last week (Picture: Chris Radburn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018It is a living breathing animal, time was off the essence, so we put out an appeal on Facebook.<\/p>\n

\u2018Her mate has been very unhappy, very distressed. He was calling out, pacing up and down, frantically flying backwards and forwards and calling frantically.<\/p>\n

\u2018Although there are other birds in the bird room, they are not his species.\u2019<\/p>\n

The shop\u2019s appeal for information, with the CCTV stills, on Facebook went viral in the local area.<\/p>\n

The next day, staff were back in Animalistic Pets when a figure dressed in all black and wearing a balaclava, returned the bird in a cage.<\/p>\n

Staff did not believe the woman was the same as the lady who entered the shop the day before.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Prize\t<\/div>
The pair walked into the shop and then got into the cage, according to CCTV stills put out by the shop (Picture: Animalistic Pets Henlow)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The shop manager said it was a \u2018very weird day\u2019 and that the bird was returned in a \u2018broken, battered, dirty cage\u2019.<\/p>\n

Becky added: \u2018I could not believe it when the staff said she was back. I checked it was her and it was. Everyone nearly burst into tears.<\/p>\n

\u2018She is very tatty, missing most of her tail feathers. I do know if she has had proper food and water. She is quiet subdued.<\/p>\n

\u2018Her mate is now a lot happier too.\u2019<\/p>\n

The kakarikis, which are \u2018sociable and intelligent\u2019 indoor birds, are now back up for sale at Animalistic Pets.<\/p>\n

Bedfordshire Police told Metro<\/strong>: \u2018We were called just before 10:20am on Friday (21 March) to a report of a bird being taken from a pet shop in Hitchin Road, Henlow.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Shop\t<\/div>
The pet shop was overjoyed the bird was returned the next day (Picture: Chris Radburn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018The bird was returned to the shop the following day. Enquiries into the incident are ongoing.\u2019<\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The stolen bird\u2019s partner was devastated (Picture: Chris Radburn\/ Animalistic Pets Henlow) A prized bird was \u2018stuffed down a man\u2019s shorts\u2019 and stolen from a pet shop, before being \u2018returned by a woman in a balaclava\u2019 the next day. The beloved kakariki \u2013 worth up to \u00a3150 \u2013 was nabbed from Animalistic Pets in Henlow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1446"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1454,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446\/revisions\/1454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}