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Budgie breeder finds 21 birds missing and pride of his flock dead on eve of show

When budgie breeder Andrew Pooley walked into his aviary, the silence told him something dreadful had happened.

His fears were soon confirmed: on the eve of a big show, 21 of his prized birds had been stolen and his champion, Penmead Pride, had been stamped to death.

Police today confirmed that they were investigating the break-in at Pooley's aviary and were working on the theory that a jealous rival was the guilty party.

Pooley, from Delabole in north Cornwall, said: "I feel terrible. It has been my life's work and Penmead Pride was my first registered champion. I can't believe it.

"Whoever took them knew what they were doing because they have taken the best of the best. It must have been someone who wanted me out of the show. This was a deliberate act of sabotage."

Former quarry worker Pooley, 58, breeds multicoloured budgies known as recessive pieds and keeps them in his shed in a specially built aviary.

The attack happened last month as Pooley, secretary of the Caged Bird Society, prepared his birds for the Cornwall budgerigar show.

He left his aviary door unlocked as he took his partner's daughter to town. He went to shed at 9.45pm to discover the birds missing and Penmead Pride, named after a road in Delabole, stamped to death, along with two others birds.

"As soon as I opened the door, it was so quiet, I knew something was wrong," he said. "I looked around and saw the birds were gone and I panicked.

"Then I looked on the floor and I saw Penmead Pride was dead – he had been stepped on. The person or people who did this only targeted my show team."

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall police said: "We were called to the property on 20 August after the owner found 21 birds worth £2,000 had been stolen. Some had also been killed.

"The owner and officers have appealed to budgerigar publications to help investigate who is responsible and where the birds may have gone.

"By the nature of the incident it appears the home has been deliberately targeted by someone in the bird-keeping community."

Pooley has bred budgies for 40 years but Penmead Pride, which won top prize at the Cornwall budgerigar show last year, was his first champion.

"Those birds are worth the world to me." he said. "What hurts as well is that they were taken by someone with knowledge, someone with an eye to know a good bird.

"Since the attack, seven more have died just from shock, it's completely destroyed my faith in humanity."

Pooley vowed to continue breeding birds. "I'm not going to give up and let them win," he said.

• Animals

Steven Morris
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