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Crowd Sourcing to Catch a Bird Thief
One Washington state bird rehabilitator is desperate to retrieve more than 50 stolen exotics.
Calling all amateur Ace Venturas: Macaw Rescue & Sanctuary needs help locating some 50 rare and critically endangered birds that mysteriously disappeared from the Washington state sanctuary this past weekend.
Blue-throated Macaws, Red-fronted Macaws, Monk Parakeets, and Galahs were among the species stolen, as well as several species of parrot: Yellow-shouldered, Senegal, Meyer’s, Brown-headed, and Red-bellied. If sold, the missing birds could fetch up to $10,000 on the open market (or they could be bred, possibly yielding even more).
Owner Bob Dawson won’t divulge a full list of the birds that were stolen, partly out of hope that keeping some cards close to his vest may eventually help locate them. Dawson has operated the sanctuary for a dozen years, helping to house birds that have been abused or neglected, or have retired from commercial breeding. The sanctuary is closed to the public, but he offers tours to individuals interested in sheltering a bird there.
Dawson suspects that the perpetrator came from the inside: The sanctuary is spread out across 20 acres of land, and “whoever came in knew their way around,” Dawson says. “They were familiar with what was here, and where to go.” He has enlisted the help of the local law enforcement to recover the birds, but Sergeant B.J. Myers of the King County Sheriff’s Department hasn’t had much luck. “This case is a little tricky; we didn't recover much physical evidence from the scene,” he told Audubon.
Myers believes Dawson’s best chance at retrieving the birds come from keeping an eye on the places they might go up for sale. Luckily, Dawson has help. The story, he says, has “blown up through Facebook; there are people searching Craigslist throughout the United States. We're getting postings, and people private messaging me.”
The outpouring of support hasn’t exactly restored his faith in humanity, though. This week, he’s installing a whole host of new security measures. “From here on out,” he says, “everything will be locked and under cameras. “