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Posted by W von Papineäu on November 20, 2002 at 20:29:29:
{Please attribute the following to Desiree Wong of www.Baskingspot.com and the kingsnake iguana forum}
OLDHAM CHRONICLE (UK) 19 November 02 Animal rescuer’s no-strings offer to thieves
Animal lover Zafur Malik has launched a desperate no-questions-asked bid to buy back his stolen exotic pets.
The 35-year-old is so worried about the plight of the animals that he is offering to pay for their safe return.
Burglars struck when Mr Malik left his Bardsley home for the night on November 4.
Using pillow cases, they took an umbrella cockatoo, a yellow-headed Amazon parrot and two animals which are classed as endangered species: a scarlet macaw and a baby spur-thighed tortoise.
Mr Malik regularly cares for animals for the RSPCA and was delighted when the Amazon parrot was spotted up a tree outside the Fytton Arms, Fitton Hill, a week ago.
He camped out all night before capturing the bird which is now doing well.
But he does not know the plight of the other stolen animals — despite distributing leaflets and offering a £1,000 reward for their safe return.
“I am really desperate to get them back, they are like family to me,” he said.
“Every day that goes by, I feel like I am getting further and further away from getting them back.
“The people who took them must want to sell them and I am offering to buy them back with no strings attached.
“My options are running out.”
He said that many trees, which may be used as perches in cages, could poison the birds. And he is pessimistic about the fate of the tortoise adding: “It has probably died as it needs to be in a vivarium.”
No one has been charged with the burglary and Detective constable Keith Lines of Oldham CID said: “I am aware of Mr Malik’s intention but this is not something we would encourage.
“As far as we are concerned this is a criminal inquiry which is still ongoing. If people are traced they will be charged and brought before the courts.”
