Members watch the birds with a baseball bat next to the bed

"The chance that the thieves are coming back, of course, is there, but if they try again, we'll haul them up," jokes Sjaak van de Louw, a member of the board, against Omroep Brabant. "We really paid attention tonight."

"The birds that sit here are the most beautiful birds that the owners have raised," says Dik Witvoet, a member of the board of directors. "They often spend years there, it takes a lot of time to grow a certain color in a small animal, so the birds are worth a lot." large bird show, but even before the start of the fair, thieves were able to steal 200 of the 450 birds, especially canaries and tropical birds of great value. The bird association office could not do anything to cancel the show.

"A year ago, we arrived in the morning and all the cages were on the ground, then we found that all these birds were gone.The gym was in. It was a great drama."

"We never want to experience such a debacle again, we have all put our shoulders under to organize the event.And we are happy that the owners are also lending their birds again this year. that's why we also promised them to keep the animals all the time. "

The board members did not sleep much late last night. The men woke up with small eyes. "But we certainly do," says Van de Louw. "In any case, nothing happened last night and that was the goal."