NETWORKING BETWEEN PET SHOPS
In some cases a team of thieves may "work" different pet shops in the same area using the walkout method etc. Shops hearing of others in the area having thefts and possible "same thief" identification, should put competition aside and cooperate in an effort to catch their neighborhood thief.
Law enforcement may lack interest in bird theft cases because there are no leads. By establishing a network of "concerned shops," along with educating and working with law enforcement ahead of time. Information can be gathered and a plan can be established for protection and catching thieves. Shops working together have successfully caught their area thieves and have helped to recover other stolen breeder and pet birds.
Shops can educate their customers to the dangers of bird theft and the importance of microchipping - if your customer no longer owns a bird, then there is no need for them to come into your store to buy food, toys, cages, supplies, etc.
The Paper Trail
By law shops must obtain and keep purchase receipts from owners selling any number of birds. Driver license, addresses and phone numbers are taken and kept as a permanent record.
Law enforcement doing random inspections in shops does not investigate information supplied on receipts by sellers, only that the shop has a receipt. Only when a formal complaint is filed by an owner finding their birds in a shop does Law Enforcement investigate receipt information. There is not enough manpower or resources to routinely check receipts on all birds sold in all shops.
Bad Shop
Information supplied on receipts may be falsely given to shop owners with or without the shop owners knowledge.Some shops have been known to continually buy and sell stolen birds.
Shop owners know birds are not microchipped, and legal proof cannot be provided by owners finding their birds in these shops. Unfortunately these shops also set high prices to owners for "re-purchase" by holding birds hostage until money is paid to reunite owner and bird.
Good Shop
Some shop owners learning they have inadvertently purchased a stolen bird will work to reunite bird and owner...birds found in shops have been sold back to owners below marked pet shop prices or for what the shop has purchased the bird for.
Clients and breeders who have had their birds stolen, have put shops on alert asking owners to "purchase back their birds at any cost," no questions asked. Owners recovering birds this way did not want to involve police or risk loosing birds a second time, because their birds could not be positively identified through microchipping etc.