45 parrots, worth €43,000, stolen from US pet shop

Forty-five parrots worth an estimated €43,000 have been stolen from a pet store in the US.

The thief broke a back window of the Parrots of the World shop at the Rockville Centre in New York between 4am and 6am yesterday, before the owner showed up, police said.

The 45 stolen parrots were worth about €43,000), said Nassau County police, who didn’t know how the crook got away.

The store’s owner, Marc Morrone, said whoever ripped him off knew where the surveillance cameras were, unhooked the cages and carried them out through a hole in the window. He said he didn’t immediately notice that one of his favourite birds was among the missing.

“I was cutting up papayas for him, and I went to feed him,” Morrone said, “and the cage was empty.”