Theft at Reptile Expo

[elevatethis]

I got this from HerpDigest, a weekly email publication.

Four Face Charges In Theft Of Animals From Reptile Expo
Based on a article by Steve Reeves of the Charleston Post and Courier, 7/28/04

Four people have been charged with last weekend's theft of dozens of rare snakes and amphibians, from a reptile show held over the weekend at the fairgrounds in Ladson.
At time of the writing of this article authorities could not find the stolen animals and received no help from the defendants. It's believed the thieves already might have sold the animals. Arrested were Shannon Payne, 23, Steven V. Baker, 24, Randall R. Byrd, 17, and Joshua M. Cabrera, 16, who is being charged as an adult. They are being charged with stealing more than $21,000 worth of animals and more than $3,000 in jewelry.
Among the animals stolen were albino Burmese pythons, hognose snakes, wood turtles and hatchling pancake turtles. Alan Bosch, owner of Alan Bosch Reptiles in Moncks Corner, lost about $3,000 worth of reptiles in the burglary. Sheriff Al Cannon said the motive was easy to discern. "It's a different kind of theft, a different kind of commodity, but the underlying theme is still the same: greed."
Robert Constantinou, an organizer of the Lowcountry Reptile and Amphibian Expo, said as exotic animals grow in popularity, thieves are increasingly targeting them.
"Exotic animals are the fastest growing animal market in the world, hands down," he said. "We take all the precautions we can to prevent thefts, but where there's a will, there's a way."

Its a pretty interesting publication, and its free. Go to www.herpdigest.org for more info

[mlededee]

that's just absolutely terrible. i actually was at that show and bought my baby bp there from alan bosch. while i was there there was a really bad storm that kept knocking out the power. alan's son was actually standing like guarding their display of bp morphs because it was so dark in there it would have been easy for someone to take one. i wonder if that's when it happened. i can't believe people are so awful.

[Marla]

That's terrible. I've just emailed Alan about this. I hope that he is able to recoup his loss in some tangible way and that the animals are all right.

[led4urhead]

Thats just horrible. I know i got herp shows to look, learn, listen, and last ( and most of the time not ) buy. I'm sorry to hear that these four people are giving herpers everywhere more bad press. I hope those who lost somthing are able to get it back.

[mlededee]

marla, let us know if alan has any good news in the way of recouping his loss.

[Marla]

No response on the part about recouping his loss, but he did have an incredible pied baby hatch (who unfortunately didn't make it), unlike any pied I've ever seen before. And he had a normal male pied survive from the same clutch, so that should more than make up for his losses if he sells it, even thought it should have been a net gain for him. He really is a nice guy, and still remembered me from when I bought from him in January.

[elevatethis]

I'm really suprised that breeders of morps aren't tagging their valuable herps. Aren't they just little microchips that scan? That way, people would be able to track where boids came from.

[Marla]

They frequently are microchipping their morphs, but that doesn't mean they can track the herps down that way, just that they can identify them if found.

[mlededee]

he had the normal baby pied at the show. it was SO gorgeous--i hadnt actually seen one in person before. if the credit limit went high enough on my credit card i swear i would have had a really tough time walking out of there without it.

marla, what was different about the pied that didn't make it that made you say it was "unlike any pied you have ever seen?"

[Marla]

She had a while belly, yellow back, and brown tiger-style stripes, and looked like you might expect a pied-spider cross to look. Usually pieds have pretty standard pattern in the spots where they do have pattern, but I've never seen a non-pied with quite the pattern she had in her colored areas. If he can produce more, this might qualify as a new subtype of piebalds or new morph.