THIEVES have ruffled the feathers of a Hallam pigeon breeder after they stole more than $10,000 worth of professional racing birds last week.
About 40 pigeons, worth between $100 and $2500 each, were stolen from a property along Albert Road overnight on Wednesday 2 July.
Casey Crime Investigation Unit Detective Senior Constable Simon Watts said the theft was quite peculiar and seemed to be a targeted attack.
“Racing pigeons are a very specific thing to steal,” he said.
“One of the birds stolen was a special rare pigeon called a Limerick tumbler yellow, which is worth up to $2500.”
Sen Const Watts said more than one person would have been involved.
“You would need at least two people to catch and remove that amount of birds,” he said.
“We believe it would have taken up to an hour, maybe even more, to catch and cage them all.
“The birds must be caged somewhere, otherwise they would have flown home.
“They were all tagged, but they have probably been cut off.”
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.