A gang of greedy thieves broke into a garden of a much-loved family in Clara this week and made off with 11 valuable bantam birds that had just recently hatched from their shells.
The birds belonged to Pat Murphy who was recently featured on RTE’s Nationwide after he retired as caretaker of St Colman’s NS in Clara after 65 years of service.
Pat ran an informal pet farm at his home, where he brought the school children and his own grandchildren around to see the birds and rabbits on a regular basis.
“We had 11 little bantam birds and two other small caged birds and these were all taken in the raid on Monday night,” said Pat’s wife Mary Murphy.
“We also have a few ducks, rabbits and of course the dogs and these weren’t touched. It must have happened in the early hours of Monday morning because we heard nothing and the dogs didn’t even bark,” she said.
The Murphys are well known in the area and Pat was given celebrity status when he retired from St Colman’s NS in Clara in September at the sprightly age of 75. He spent 65 years at the school — starting at the tender age of just 10 years.
During the programme, Pat was seen showing the baby birds to some of the school children who came on a class trip to visit the farm, but Mary believes that this publicity had nothing to do with the theft.
“Somebody just took a fancy to them and they knew we had them. They are quite an expensive bird to buy and we had the two birds to breed them here at home. Two hens then laid at the same time producing 11 eggs between them. We divided them up and then about three weeks later they hatched. They were a lovely little bird. It’s a pity they have gone but I suppose, it could have been worse. The thoughts of having intruders on the property is the worst part actually,” said Mary.
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However, the intruders knew what they were at when they were stealing the little birds as they will fetch a pretty penny.
“Bantam birds are worth a good deal, they are special birds and they would get an excellent price at a fair or somewhere like that,” said Mary.
But the family will miss the baby birds — more-so Pat and Mary’s two young grand-daughters who spend much of their time at their grand-parents home.
“When Pat went out to feed the rabbits this morning, the little one asked him where the birds were and we had to tell her that they had been stolen. It’s sad.”
The Gardai were informed of the theft and they are dealing with the complaint given by Pat, however, the thieves have as of yet not been found.
“In future we will be leaving the dogs out and we’ll be keeping a closer eye on the birds and animals so that we don’t have the same problem again. The birds were too easily accessed in an open shed at the front and so we will be more careful of them in future,” pledged Mary.
