HIALEAH, Fla. – Hialeah has become the hot spot for an unexpected type of theft—bird-napping.
Three separate incidents, within blocks from each other, are leaving residents puzzled.
Beatriz Mestryl said she’s the latest victim, after her yellow Canary, Maximo, was snatched less than 10 minutes after she placed his cage outside for air.
“I care about him a lot,” said Mestryl in Spanish. “Our pets are like our children. He belonged to my daughter and kids also suffer when they lose their pets.”
The feathered heist was caught on camera. A truck is seen pulling up, then reversing on West 41st Street in Hialeah.
The passenger casually steps out, heads up the stairs, and makes a beeline for the cage. After a bit of a struggle, he takes off with Maximo, leaving behind nothing but feathers and frustration.
As it turns out, this isn’t the first time a crook has flown off with someone’s pet. In a similar heist, a nimble thief with a knack for climbing scaled balconies after spotting Miriam Cruz’s two cockatiels on her second-floor back patio.
“She was crying. She couldn’t believe it,” a neighbor recalled.
The man snatched the cage and fled the scene on his moped. A similar man was then spotted a few blocks away at Janet’s Pet Shop and Supply.
Cameras there only caught a thief reaching for a cage with a black bird inside. Employees said it was worth $1,500 with the cage.
It’s unclear if all three thefts are connected and residents want to know if these crooks are targeting birds specifically, or scouring for packages and taking whatever they find along the way.
If you have any information about any of these cases, call Hialeah police