Dozens of rare Hermann's tortoises stolen in Corsica

September 11, 2018

The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the Hermann turtle as "near threatened" on its Red List of species at risk

A turtle conservation park on the French island of Corsica is asking the public for help after 56 rare Hermann's tortoises, considered a nearly threatened species, were stolen from the site.

The A Cupulatta park in Vero, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) northeast of Ajaccio, issued its appeal on Facebook on Monday after discovering the missing adult tortoises, recognisable by their distinctive black-and-yellow shells.

"These tortoises cannot be legally sold so can only be destined for trafficking," the park wrote.

It also warned that wild turtle populations could be at risk if the Hermann's were stolen by anti-zoo activists who might be planning to release the tortoises.

"They could contaminate wild populations with fatal germs, since they've been kept in captivity for a long time and have been exposed to animals and people which wild turtles aren't used to seeing," the park said.

"Share this message: the turtles may still be in Corsica," it added.

Police have opened an inquiry, according to the local prosecutor Eric Bouillard.

A Cupulatta bills itself as the only site in Europe dedicated to the breeding and protection of turtles from around the world, housing 170 species and more than 3,000 animals.

Read more at: 

43 gators & crocodiles killed in building arson, another rare gator stolen: There is an open investigation - via Herp Digest

ABC Action News, Emily McCain, Jun 25, 2018

BUSHNELL, Fla. — Deputies say someone stole a rare alligator from a building before setting it on fire, killing the 43 other reptiles inside. 

Sumter County Sheriff's Office Deputies say they were responding to a structure fire when they found that a rare alligator was missing, possibly stolen.

The victims told officials that the rare Leucistic alligator, named Snowball, was in the building that morning. But when deputies performed a search after the fire Snowball was nowhere to be found.

Leucistic alligators have a rare genetic mutation that causes the animal to lose color so they are primarily white — often with blue eyes. 

Deputies believe whoever set the fire did it after they stole the rare animal. 

During the search, officials were able to account for all of the other reptiles housed in the building. In total, 43 alligators and crocodiles were found dead. 

The State Fire Marshal's Office is investigating the cause of the fire — which officials believe to be arson at this time.

Ancient giant shark tooth goes missing in Australia

March 13, 2018

The well-preserved tooth is an estimated 2-2.5 million years old and belonged to a Megalodon, regarded as one of the largest and most powerful fish to have ever lived

A giant fossilised tooth from a prehistoric shark has gone missing from a supposedly secret location at a remote Australian World Heritage site, and wildlife officials want it back.

The well-preserved tooth, which could be valuable to collectors, is an estimated 2-2.5 million years old and belonged to a Megalodon, regarded as one of the largest and most powerful fish to have ever lived.

"It had quite defined features on it, so you could see the serrated edge of the shark's tooth, it was probably one of the better specimens we knew of," said Arvid Hogstrom from Parks and Wildlife in Western Australia.

One of just a few Megalodon specimens in the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area, "very few people" knew of its location, he added, without elaborating on exactly how many.

"It is not something someone would have stumbled across and they have been required to put a bit of effort in to get it out of the rock as well," he said.

"We presume... an amateur collector (has taken it) or someone that just wants to have a fossil sitting on their mantelpiece."

Continued  

36 exotic animals disappear from Florida wildlife sanctuary after fake 'help yourself' ad

Owners fear for health of lemurs, marmosets, monkeys, birds and tortoises removed from Miami site in incident police are treating as theft

Richard Luscombe in Miami

Mon 5 Mar 2018 21.31 GMTFirst published on Mon 5 Mar 2018 20.48 GMT

The advertisement on Craigslist was specific: “Free exotic animals. We’re a sanctuary going out of business. Go around back and help yourself.”

Early on Sunday morning, somebody did just that, driving a truck up to the rear gate of the We Care Wildlife Sanctuary in Miami and loading up seven ring-tailed lemurs, five marmosets, four monkeys, seven birds and 13 tortoises.

The internet posting, however, was a fake. Now the sanctuary owners want their animals back, fearing they could die in days without the specialist care they need.

“We’ve been violated,” a sanctuary volunteer, Cindy Robert, said of the disappearance of the valuable animals, which is being treated by the Miami-Dade police department as a theft.

“I don’t think these animals are going to be taken care of. The stress alone could give some of them heart attacks.”

Detectives are looking into the theory that the entire episode was carefully planned, targeting those animals that would bring in the best return from dealers or collectors who trade in exotic species.

 “They took the dollar animals. They knew exactly what they wanted,” said Robert, adding that the combined value of the lost animals would run to “thousands” of dollars.

Continued  

Arizona pet store thieves caught stuffing snakes into their shirts on video - via Herp Digest

Video at http://bit.ly/2D9qxay

Kfvs12.com-Pheonix, Arizona —1/14/18 - Two people were caught on camera robbing an Arizona pet shop Wednesday and the thieves were apparently after snakes.

How they tried to get two very pricey reptiles out of the store surprised the shop's staff.

"It looked like there was collaboration, like they knew what they were doing, and what they wanted, which ones they wanted," said Matthew Benedict, a store employee at Custom Creatures.

Surveillance video shows a young man and woman checking out the store's selection of reptiles. But what they did next had store employees at a loss for words.

"They just jammed their key into the lock and just kept wiggling it until the lock finally broke," Benedict said.

In the video the guy reaches in and immediately shoves a $500 albino red tailed python in his shirt. But the couple wasn't done yet. Moments later, the woman grabs a $450 blue-eyed lucy python and puts it in her purse.

The video shows one of the snakes wasn't too thrilled about being manhandled, slithering out of his shirt as the thief stuffs it back in.

"Jordan confronted them when they were leaving and he just stood there dumbfounded," Benedict said.

The crooks pushed their way out the door, but a photo shows shop owner Jordan Moore's wrestling one of the snakes away before their escape.

Surveillance video posted to their Facebook page was shared thousands of times. Eventually someone came forward and identified the thieves.

And Moore gave them an ultimatum: Return the other snake in 24 hours or he'd call the police.

"Posted on Facebook, a lot of people have seen that, they know what you look like, it's time to do the right thing now," Benedict said.

The second snake was returned to the store just before they closed Thursday night, allowing the thieves to avoid formal charges.

From north Wales to Norfolk, distraught beekeepers ask: who’s stealing our hives?

More than 100,000 bees have been targeted by rustlers in the past month alone – and keepers fear the culprits are from their own ranks

Saturday 23 September 2017 13.23 BSTLast modified on Saturday 23 September 2017 22.00 BST

There was a lump in Katie Hayward’s throat as she spoke about the emotional impact of the thefts that have cast a shadow over Britain’s beekeepers. “The heartbreaking thing is that it’s a very close community. The fact that one beekeeper does this to another is the hardest thing of all,” she says.

Two years have now passed since Hayward’s farm in north Wales was raided, leading to the loss of tens of thousands of bees. But the rustlers have continued to be active. Most recently they have targeted the property of one of her Anglesey neighbours, where around 40,000 bees were taken last month.

The heists have continued in other parts of the country, too. Earlier this month police in Norfolk were called after five hives thought to contain around 60,000 bees and £600 worth of honey were taken. Other known raids this year in Britain have included one in Doncaster in April. Suspicions among beekeepers that the culprits come from their own ranks were underlined by the fact that a bee smoker was left at the scene by someone who presumably knew that it could be used to calm the insects before taking them.

The problem is not restricted to the UK, either. The thefts are of an entirely different magnitude in California, where billions of bees are used to pollinate almond crops. But at least in the Golden State there has been some progress by investigators, who this summer arrested a man accused of stealing almost $1m worth of hives.

Read on  

Police Seek Quick Recovery of Nonprofit’s Beloved Sulcata Tortoise (Queens, NYC) – via Herp Digest

Wall Street Journal,  by Melanie Grace West, 7/18/17

Police are searching for suspects who made a fast getaway with one of Queens’ slowest residents.

The victim: Millennium, a 95-pound tortoise possibly born in 2000, though nobody really knows for sure.

He went missing from his enclosure at the Alley Pond Environmental Center sometime between Sunday evening and Monday afternoon, according to Carlos Martinez the center’s head of operations.

Officials of Alley Pond say that police have taken security footage from the center and will return Tuesday with a search dog. A spokesman for the New York Police Department said that footage from the surrounding area is also being reviewed.

A priceless, main attraction for the nonprofit educational center, Millennium has lived at the center for over a decade. He shares his summers with another African spurred tortoise named Mini Me in a large, sunny enclosure that abuts the perimeter of the center.

Center officials are convinced that Millennium didn’t get lost, or burrow out and wander off in search of fresh grass. Police are homing in on a one-foot by two-foot section of Millennium’s chain link enclosure that was cut open. Broken foliage and footprints lead from the opening of the fence to public property, according to Mr. Martinez, who noticed that Millennium was missing at 4 p.m. on Monday.

The real head-scratcher is how thieves physically boosted Millennium.

The slot in the chain-link isn’t large enough to slide Millennium out and the “gentle giant” doesn’t like to be tipped on his side, said Mr. Martinez. He figures at least two people were involved in the heist and they likely hoisted the tortoise above the 6-foot fence.

Still, said Mr. Martinez, “he’s not an animal you can just come and pick up and walk him half a block. He’s very awkward, he’s round…you would need a wagon, a hand-truck or a wheelbarrow.”

Monkey mafia steal your stuff, then sell it back for a cracker

25 May 2017

By Brian Owens

Long-tailed macaques living near an Indonesian temple have figured out how to run a ransom racket on visiting tourists.

The monkeys grab valuables, such as glasses, hats, cameras or, in one case, a wad of cash from the ticket booth, then wait for temple staff to offer them food before dropping their ill-gotten gains and dashing off with the tasty prize (see video below).

Although this behaviour has been reported anecdotally at Uluwatu Temple on the island of Bali for years, it had never been studied scientifically in the wild. So Fany Brotcorne, a primatologist at the University of Liège in Belgium, and her colleagues set out to discover how and why it has spread through the monkey population.

“It’s a unique behaviour. The Uluwatu Temple is the only place in Bali where it’s found,” she says, which suggests it is a learned behaviour rather than an innate ability.

Brotcorne wanted to determine whether it was indeed cultural, which could help us better understand the monkey’s cognitive abilities, and even human evolution.

Robbing and bartering
She spent four months observing four different groups of monkeys that live near the temple. The two groups that spent the most time around tourists had the highest rates of robbing and bartering, supporting the idea that they were learning the behaviour by watching each other. Groups with more young males, who are more prone to risky behaviour, also had higher rates than other groups.

Although this study is based on only a small sample, Brotcorne believes her team has found the first preliminary evidence that the behaviour is a cultural one, transmitted across generations by monkeys learning from each other.

In the years since these observations, she has gathered more evidence: the members of a fifth group of macaques that moved into the area around the temple have also started to learn that they can barter stolen goods for snacks.

Serge Wich, a primatologist at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, says Brotcorne’s work provides “a novel and quite spectacular example of flexibility in primate behaviour in response to environmental changes”.

Read more

Mystery soap thief unmasked as gang of squirrels

When residents of a leafy street noticed that their soap and shower gel was going missing from their bathrooms they thought they were going mad.

But that was until one of the thieves was caught disappearing out of a window with a bar of soap - and the mystery gang was unmasked as squirrels.

Now residents of the Kentish Town road have complained to Camden Council for planting trees too close to their homes and demanding they be cut down.

The pests are notorious for devouring anything they can get their hands on. TV wildlife expert Chris Packham said: “Squirrels will chew anything even if it's obviously inedible”.

Johnny Murphy, 75, who has lived in the street for 40 years, told the Camden New Journal: “Nobody knows where the stuff goes or what on earth they want to do with it, but we know it’s them because they’ve been caught red-handed in the past.

“No one can leave their windows open because you open one window and they spot it. They leap straight in from the branches.”

Continued

Four rhino heads stolen from museum in Dublin

Rhino horns stolen from museum storage

April 2013. Four rhinoceros heads were stolen from premises of the National Museum of Ireland late in the evening of Wednesday 17 April 2013. A security guard was overpowered by a number of raiders and tied up but has not been injured. He managed to free himself and notify Gardaí who are investigating the robbery.

The stolen rhinoceros heads have a total of eight horns that have probably been taken to supply the illegal trade in powdered horn that is used in traditional medicines in the Far East. Their price is based on weight and the total amount stolen could have a street value in the region of €500,000. 

Not on display

Rhinoceros horns have been taken from rhinos poached in the wild for many years and several species of rhino have been brought to the edge of extinction because of this. In recent years, thieves have turned to museums and private collections that include rhino taxidermy and artworks that include rhino horn. Many museums have taken rhinoceros horn off display as a result. The National Museum of Ireland took the decision to remove all rhinoceros horn from display and the stolen specimens were placed in storage over a year ago. Currently there are no rhinoceros horns on display in the National Museum of Ireland - Natural History. 

Irish gang

The theft of rhino horn shows how organised criminals are always on the lookout for new and creative crime opportunities. Significant players within this area of crime have been identified as an Irish and ethnically-Irish organised criminal group, who are known to use intimidation and violence to achieve their ends. To source and acquire rhino horns, the group has targeted antique dealers, auction houses, art galleries, museums, private collections and zoos, resorting to theft and aggravated burglary where necessary. To sell specimens, they have exploited international auction houses in the UK, France, USA and China.

Elements of this group are also involved in a variety of other serious crimes across the European Union such as drugs trafficking, organised robbery, distribution of counterfeit products, tarmac fraud and money laundering. Outside the EU, they have been active in North and South America, South Africa, China and Australia. 

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/dublin-rhino.html

Chicken breeder spitting feathers after thieves steal rare birds

A chicken breeder in Lincolnshire is asking for help to find thieves who've stolen 50 of her rare birds. Les Good's premises near Louth have been repeatedly targeted.

The chicks are partly cared for by two disabled people who also live there. Now they're saying enough is enough.

Watch video:  http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/update/2012-08-22/chicken-breeder-spitting-feathers-after-thieves-steal-rare-birds/

Missing Dinosaur: Hi-Noon Petroleum Truck Stop Offers Reward For Fiberglass Mascot

MISSOULA, Mont. -- The folks at Hi-Noon Petroleum in Montana have a new way to turn a dinosaur into gasoline.

They're offering a $250 gas card for information leading to the safe return of Dino, a 12-foot-long fiberglass Sinclair dinosaur that disappeared June 21 from the Crossroads Travel Center west of Missoula.

"We just wonder what happened to him," Hi-Noon marketing manager Earl Allen said Friday. "It's a little odd for him to just walk away."

The 6-foot tall green dinosaur sat on a hill overlooking Interstate 90 for at least five years, Allen said, with occasional appearances in University of Montana Homecoming parades.

"That was his home for a number of years," Allen said.

Allen said taking the prehistoric icon would have been a bit of a project.

"It's not like you can just throw him in the back of a pickup," he said.

Anyone with information on Dino's whereabouts is asked to call Hi-Noon.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/30/missing-dinosaur-truck-stop-reward_n_1639896.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

European BirdLife Partners take action against European bird crime

Across Europe, birds suffer from a wide range of persecution: illegal poisoning, shooting, trapping, and the theft of chicks for the bird trade are common practices. Recently, five European countries were confronted with cases of illegal killing. The common, even if illegal, practice of using poison baits to eradicate carnivores and rodents causes huge damage to wildlife as well as to livestock and crops. In some cases it can explain the decline of specific bird populations in Europe. Moreover, the poisons used are usually unnecessarily strong and often illegal.

The BirdLife Partners in Hungary, Greece, Cyprus, France and Malta have s taken different types of measures to halt illegal killing of bird practices and to limit their damages on biodiversity. 

In Hungary, illegal killing of birds threatens rare majestic birds

Over the last decade in Hungary, more than a thousand protected birds have been poisoned including White-tailed Eagles, Saker Falcons, and Common Buzzards. More birds have been, and are still, the victims of other illegal practices such as trapping or shooting.

MME (BirdLife in Hungary) has just begun the coordination of a new Life+ project (co-financed by the EU) in cooperation with eight other organisations, aimed at supporting the slow growth of the Eastern Imperial Eagle population in Hungary, and more widely, at finding solutions to control illegal hunting of birds.

Continued:  http://www.birdlife.org/community/2012/06/european-birdlife-partners-take-action-against-european-bird-crime/

Fairy penguin stolen from Sea World, released into Gold Coast Broadwater

THREE men who allegedly stole a penguin from Sea World were nabbed because they boasted about it on Facebook.

Sea World's Trevor Long told ABC Radio that Dirk the fairy penguin was recovering at the Gold Coast marine park after he was stolen and released in the Broadwater on Saturday night.

Staff were relieved to have an exhausted Dirk back, as was his penguin partner, Peaches.

Dirk had no chance of surviving alone in the wild, Mr Long said.

"It's totally foreign to this animal and it's very, very cruel," he told ABC Radio on Monday.

"He wouldn't have survived in the wild, not at all.

"He would have been an ideal target for a bull shark during the day or dogs and cats."

Dirk was hiding under the concrete of Southport pier and was very afraid and distressed when Sea World staff rescued him on Sunday night, Mr Long said.

A friend of the men then alerted police.

Three men aged 18, 20 and 21, will appear in court next month charged with trespassing, and stealing and unlawfully keeping a protected animal, an offence under the Nature Conservation Act.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/the-other-side/fairy-penguin-stolen-from-sea-world-released-into-gold-coast-broadwater/story-e6frfhk6-1226327692251

Disappointment after rare feathers stolen

A volunteer at the small museum where two valuable rare feathers from an extinct native bird were stolen is not hopeful they will be returned.

The 123-year-old tail feathers were taken from one of two stuffed huia birds that were kept in a secure glass case at the Gallery of History in Dannevirke.

Dannevirke police are investigating and are appealing to the public for any information about the theft, which is believed to have occurred on either Wednesday or Friday last week.

Pat Mills, who is one of a number of volunteers at the museum, told NZ Newswire she doesn't hold much hope the feathers will be returned.

"It's going to be very difficult to find out who took them."

She said there will be an amnesty, so if the person who took them felt that they had done the wrong thing, they could slip them under the gallery door and nothing more would be said.

"But I don't know if that will happen," Mrs Mills said.

The museum has been looking after the two huia for a local family for 25 years.

Mrs Mills says the huia were shot in the nearby Pohangina Valley in 1889 for a wedding present.

The museum is disappointed the feathers have been stolen and Mrs Mills says the theft has deprived future generations the chance to see what an authentic huia looked like.

The last live huia was seen in the Tararua Ranges in 1907.

A feather, similar to the ones stolen, was sold at auction in Auckland in 2010 for $8400.

It was said at the time to be a world record price for a bird feather.

http://news.msn.co.nz/nationalnews/8442150/rare-huia-feathers-stolen-from-museum

Rhino horn: Fooling the thieves lured by riches

The thieves who broke into the Natural History Museum in Tring during the early hours of Saturday morning probably thought it had been a good night's work.

They took two rhino horns, weighing 2kg each and worth about £240,000 on the black market. Or so they thought.

Unfortunately for them, staff at the Hertfordshire museum were aware of the string of thefts from other museums and auction houses, and had swapped the real rhino horns for carefully crafted fakes, almost indistinguishable from the real thing. And totally worthless.

This year alone, gangs have stolen rhino horns from more than 30 collections across Europe. A Czech castle has been targeted, natural history museums in Belgium, Germany, France and Italy, and other sites in Portugal and Sweden.

In Britain, rhino horns have also been stolen from the Haslemere Educational Museum in Surrey and at the end of July thieves passed over a 2,000 year old Egyptian death mask to take a horn from Ipswich Museum.

Poaching crisis
These gangs are organised and plan in advance. The head of security for the Natural History Museum, Andrew Wilkinson, says they had an idea that they were being targeted: "We believe we were the subject of a hostile reconnaissance the week before. Staff spotted the man and we were able to put in extra measures to ensure that we were fully prepared.

"But it didn't stop them getting in. They made an initial attempt on the front door at midnight. The police were called and we repaired the door. Unfortunately they came back at half-past-four and got in through a first-storey window."

It can be no coincidence that at the same time, conservationists are warning that the world's rhino population is facing a poaching crisis.

Richard Thomas, from wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic, says the number of animals being killed has increased dramatically: "Increasingly we're seeing live animals targeted. The number of rhinos being poached in South Africa has risen from a dozen or so four or five years ago to last year when we reached a record high of 333. But we're way past 200 animals already this year."

Britain has taken a lead in the fight against the illegal trade in rhino horns. A week ago, the government secured an international agreement to curb sales and will lead to talks on how to fight myths about the medicinal powers of rhino horn.

Scarcity value
And this is the real problem. In China, traditionally rhino horn powder was used to treat fever, but a modern myth has sprung up - that has no basis in science - that it can cure cancer.

In Vietnam they are prized by the rich to display in their homes, pushing demand even higher.

Globally, the campaign to stop the trade in rhino horns has been very successful and any loopholes in the law that allowed the legal trade of antique horns have now been closed.

This makes their availability scarce but, with demand from Asia high, the prices have soared. On the black market rhino horns sell for around £50,000 per kilo, making them more valuable than gold, diamonds and cocaine.

Mr Thomas said: "Organised crime steps in anywhere where there's quick and easy money to be made, and rhino horns have hit their radar. They're easy to conceal and therefore easy to smuggle."

The Natural History Museum may have thwarted the rhino horn thieves this time, but it is unlikely they will be the last collection to be hit. While demand is high, and there is big money to be made, someone will try to find a way around the law.
By Niki Cardwell BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14696639

'Dumb and dumber' pet thieves wrestle python

MELBOURNE (AFP) – Two "dumb and dumber" alleged pet thieves wrestled a stolen python in a McDonald's restaurant carpark as astonished customers looked on, Australian police said Thursday.

The men, aged 22 and 24, struggled with the 1.5-metre (five feet) snake, named Boris, which was "not happy" at being removed from its container after being stolen from a Melbourne pet shop.

"In all honesty, it's just a case of dumb and dumber," Detective Sergeant Andrew Beams told public broadcaster ABC.

"Anyone who gets out there with a one-and-a-half metre python in a McDonald's carpark, they're pretty dumb."

Totally Reptiles owner Jodie Graham said Boris, who is safely back at the pet shop, has a "very nice personality" and was upset at not being handled properly.

"He was a bit cold and stressed so I have him in the tank warming up. I am just glad to get him back," she said.

The two men were arrested and charged with offences including burglary and theft.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100909/od_afp/australiacrimeanimalsnakeoffbeat

Stolen swearing parrot returned

A foul-mouthed parrot stolen in a burglary in Newcastle has been returned to its owner.

The one-legged African grey "which swears a lot" was handed in at Etal Lane police station, along with another parrot of the same breed, on Sunday.

A rose-breasted cockatoo also taken in the burglary in Woodbrook Avenue, Slatyford, on 2 July is still missing.
A 22-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of burglary and bailed pending further inquiries.

A 20-year-old woman and 23-year-old man previously arrested in connection with the burglary were earlier released on police bail.

Insp Steve Hails, of Northumbria Police, said: "We're delighted the two African greys have been returned to their owner and hope that they fully recover."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/8148898.stm

Fla. police arrest pair connected to the theft of a skunk from a pet store

SARASOTA, Fla. - Authorities arrested two people connected to the theft of a baby skunk from a pet store. The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office reported that the skunk was stolen Wednesday from Animal Crackers Pet Store. The animal was valued at $400.

Deputies said they arrested 21-year-old man on Thursday when he tried to return the skunk to the store. Deputies also picked up 20-year-old woman while she was at work.

The man, who deputies said actually stole the skunk, was charged with grand theft, and the woman was charged with accessory to grand theft.

http://www.startribune.com/nation/50046727.html?elr=KArksD:aDyaEP:kD:aUt:aDy

Thieves 'using Google Earth to steal koi carp'

Thieves are using Google Earth to steal expensive koi carp from homeowners' ponds, police believe.

They are believed to be using Internet mapping systems to identify gardens with ponds so they can take the sought-after specimens.

Twelve thefts of the exotic fish and pond equipment, some of which are worth hundreds of pounds, have been reported over a three-week period across Hull, East Yorks.

Humberside Police Community Support Officer Sam Gregory said all the evidence suggests the culprits are using the Internet to seek out their targets.

Google Earth provides satellite photos detailed enough to see what is in people's back gardens.
PCSO Gregory said: "Google shows what is in your garden and you can see people's ponds.

"One of the properties targeted has an eight foot fence and is set back from the road.

"The pond is in the corner and can't be seen.

"Unless you were standing right next to the wall, you wouldn't be able to hear the running water."

Robert Barnes lost four koi carp and expensive lilies from his pond. The 65 year-old said: "They took the smaller fish, probably because they last longer out of the water.

"My neighbour later told me she had seen two young men with a bike with a box on it and a big black net."

Nigel Dawson, 40, woke up one morning to find his expensive filter system and 13 koi carp had been taken from his back garden.

He said: "I am devastated. I didn't see or hear anything."

A spokesperson for Google said the search engine was just one provider of such satellite images.
They said: "Google Earth is built from information that is available worldwide from a wide range of both commercial and public sources.

"As such, Google Earth creates no appreciable increase in security risks, given the wide commercial availability of high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery of every country in the world.

"Criminals could use maps, phones and getaway cars but no one would argue that these technologies are responsible for the crime itself, that responsibility lies with the perpetrator."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/google/5673044/Thieves-using-Google-Earth-to-steal-koi-carp.html