MIAMI – Miami-Dade police are looking for two men who stole 500 canaries from a Kendall, Florida home and then sold them to various pets stores.
The burglary happened in the early hours of May 26 from a home of an 87-year-old bird breeder in the 11000 block of Southwest 47th Street in Kendall.
The next day, two men sold the canaries to three different pet shops, including to Robert's Pet Shop at 14420 South Dixie Highway where they sold 120 birds.
"That they were his grandfather's birds and he was ill. That is usually what happens when people get rid of large quantities of birds and he had to get rid of about 100 birds," said Lazaro Sardinas, who works at Robert's.
Sardinas said the thieves even offered to come back and sell him the cages but never showed.
The breeder who had the bird stolen is a customer at Robert's. Sardinas said he wishes he had known about the burglary back in May.
"Of course, I feel bad for the gentleman. I wish he would have told me at the time that they stole the birds, that way I would have had an eye out for his birds," said Sardinas.
Detectives have recovered about 150 of the canaries. The birds were worth $12,500.