An alleged parrot thief is caught on camera stealing an expensive bird from a pet store in Wyoming, and the owner hopes she can track the suspect down using social media.
"We do a quick look around the store. He usually likes to go high on other cages -- didn't him anywhere, checked the cameras and you can actually see her walking out the door with him in her hands on the cameras,” said Jessica Oegema, store owner at Casa La Parrot.
Casa La Parrot is home to some 200 birds and parrots at any given time. Some are for sale and others are there for boarding or on layaway.
Oegema said most of the birds are ready for some love and attention.
"They're actually so playful that they'll go to anybody, which is how she was able to get him out the door so easily because he is so friendly,” she said.
Oegema said a White-Bellied Caique parrot named Max was stolen Wednesday around noon from her store in Wyoming.
"Very maddening -- very. I mean, who takes a pet? What is that about? I don't get it,” Oegema said.
The missing bird costs $1,600 and belongs to Alex Lackey, who’s been making payments on the bird for nearly a year. He was less than a month away from taking his beloved pet home.
"Everybody knew who he was. Everyone who came to the store knew who Max was,” Lackey said.
Security footage from inside the store shows the exact moment Max was taken. "She seemed perfectly normal. Nothing stood out when she was looking around, but on the video when she's back in the corner -- just, something was a little off,” Oegema said.
Casa La Parrot is now taking to Facebook to see if someone will recognize the woman. "Exploded -- we have almost 100,000 views of the original post with about 1500 shares,” Oegema said.
Lackey hopes the extra attention will bring Max back home safe. "Please bring him back. He had a family. He's very loved and I miss him,” Lackey said.
We checked this morning, and so far no updates on Max from the pet store.
