Finches filched: Strathroy-area business owner says theft worth thousands
It's not your typical break and enter theft, with hundreds of exotic birds taken from a Strathroy area business.
The owner says the value of the birds taken is about $25,000, and it will be difficult to recover from that loss.
Pete Van Erp has various types of birds in his aviary, but specializes in hatching and raising finches, including African, Australian and zebra finches.
Van Erp says when he and his daughter went into the aviary on Jan. 18, they realized gates were open and birds were missing.
"Big cages that should have had 40 birds each and they were completely empty. I realized something was up."Red-headed Gouldian finches at Pete Van Erp Aviaries, Jan. 24, 2022. (Gerry Dewan / CTV News)Van Erp, 79, and his wife Laurene started raising birds when they were first married in 1964. She passed last year but her picture remains at the entranceway to the aviary.
Pete used the birds as a way to rebound from the loss, hoping to continue with their shared passion.
"The competition really. Like, we go to bird shows all over. The last two years have been a disaster because of the virus."
The theft has compounded the challenges he faces. He believes the thieves may have been in the aviary just days before the finches were taken, surveying where the most prized were. He says they appeared to know what they were looking for.
"They went for all the good stuff, like the expensive birds."Red-headed star finches at Pete Van Erp Aviaries. Jan. 24, 2022. (Gerry Dewan / CTV News)Van Erp admits it will be difficult to get the birds back but says two things are working in his favour. One, the birds were wearing closed bands and those band numbers have been recorded.
“Closed bands mean made out of steel. They go on the leg before the babies are 10 days old... Those bands are very hard to remove.”
The second thing Van Erp has going for him is a tight-knit community of bird enthusiasts who are now on the lookout for his birds.
"I got a call last night from Alberta, the day before from Winnipeg, all over Ontario."
Middlesex OPP has launched an investigation into the theft but Van Erp says insurance won't cover the loss of birds.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.
Canada's favourite sport to watch is hockey, survey shows
The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs have already delivered a fever level of fan excitement in Canada.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
“It's just so hard to let it go. I mean, everyone is telling me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone is not here [anymore]. So I don't know how I will move on." That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
NASA hears from Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, after months of quiet
NASA has finally heard back from Voyager 1 again in a way that makes sense. The most distant spacecraft from Earth hadn't sent home any understandable data since last November.