HIALEAH, FLA. (WSVN) - A thief was caught on camera at two locations stealing birds in a Hialeah community.
Surveillance video shows the subject arriving at the apartment complex located on West 12th Avenue and 47th Place on a moped at 2 p.m. Thursday.
The subject is seen climbing up the first-floor apartment’s fence to the second-floor balcony. Moments later, the subject jumped off the balcony with a birdcage containing two pet cockatoos and drove away.
Speaking through a translator, the birds’ owner, Miriam Cruz, said she misses her pets singing and talking back to her.
Now she feels the thief stole her pets and her sense of safety.
“For me, the scariest part is that he climbed up here in the first place,” said Cruz. “Someone like that is capable of doing anything.”
Neighbors in the community agree with Cruz.
“We got worried as well because we also have birds on our balcony,” said Maria Salvarrey.
Salvarrey, who lives next door to Cruz, told 7News she’s worried that this can happen again.
“The first thing I was thinking, ‘Oh, my God, how can someone do this with birds?’ You get me?” she said. “Sometimes we even let, like, our dog outside, and it’s just so concerning, because even if we leave our dog outside, they can come and take out dog. So it’s just absurd, it’s crazy that someone is willing to climb a second floor for birds.”
Cruz may not have been the thief’s only target. The owners of Janet Pet Shop, located about a mile away, think the same person stole their two birds that were hanging in a birdcage right outside their storefront.
The store’s surveillance camera captures a person driving into the shop’s parking lot on a moped. The person reaches out to grab the birdcage hanging in front of the shop, containing two Cuban bullfinches inside, and drives away.
The theft occurred on the same day, a couple of hours after the theft at Cruz’s apartment.
The Cuban bullfinches were worth about $1,200.
Cruz doesn’t have much hope her cockatoos will be returned, but she said she wants the repeat thief off the streets.
She and the pet shop owners believe the thief stole the birds to resell them for money. Both thefts have been reported to police.
If you have any information on this theft or the birds’ whereabouts, call Hialeah Police at 305-687-2525 Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a reward of up to $5,000.
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