What happened on Thursday morning was not how the owner of Feathered Friends & Co. Marcus Lozano imagined his birthday would go.
Lozano and his employees arrived at work to see a side window had been smashed in and Romeo, the blue-and-gold Macaw missing.
"I’m kind of like sick to my stomach thinking where he could be, if he’s hurt, if he’s receiving proper care. I want to get him back," Lozano said.
Lozano's greatest concern about Romeo being taken is that a Macaw requires special care.
"A blue-and-gold Macaw like Romeo requires a very large cage, $1,200 for the cage," Lozano said. "The food, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, even some kinds of meat, tree nuts, walnuts, pecans things like that. They graze, they eat all day. They need constant stimulation. The cage is more-look at it more as a bedroom. They're not supposed to live in their cage. They're supposed to hang out in the cage when you can't watch them."
Romeo is a rescue bird that has been with Feathered Friends for two months. The business serves as more than just a pet store.
“In a sense, we feel a lot like a little "birdy" adoption agency or a bird rescue. Romeo was here, we were his alternate home until we could find him somewhere to go," Lozano said.
Lozano was able to piece together what happened to Romeo, thanks to security cameras at neighboring businesses 1st Community Bank and Wienerschnitzel. He said his cameras weren’t working because his electricity and security system were tampered with by the suspected thief.
Video showed him a man had been pacing around the building, back and forth, a little after 3 a.m. Thursday. 10 to 15 minutes later, Lozano saw on the video an older Gold Chevrolet Malibu pulled into the Wienerschnitzel.
Lozano described the car as having a missing lower bumper and the trunk was pushed inwards.
The video shows the man walk behind Feathered Friends, down the alley and out to west side of the building. That's where 1st Community Bank video showed Lozano the man smashing the window in. Then the man retreated the same way he came after taking Romeo.
“The guy came running out this way and he had Romeo, from what I remember seeing, he had Romeo under his right armpit. And, I could see Romeo flapping his wings while he had him with something wrapped around his head. They were parked in the second or third parking spot right there,” Lozano said, pointing at the Wienerschnitzel parking lot.
Whoever was in the driver seat drove them away down Everhart Road.
“I guarantee wherever he is, he’s not in a situation where he has all these resources available to him," Lozano said.
It’s a family environment at Feathered Friends, Lozano said. So, when people began to hear a valuable bird was stolen from his store, support came pouring in from every corner of the internet.
His posts about Romeo has been shared dozens of time and now much of the Corpus Christi community has their eyes open, looking for the car Lozano had described.
With a busy day for Corpus Christi Police Department, Lozano said police were able to come by later in the day Thursday to start a case. Lozano said they got the security footage from Wienerschnitzel and have already given Lozano several updates on Friday.
With Feathered Friends heavy following, people have also been calling Lozano updating them if they see the car in question throughout the city. Lozano said there's been no short of 20 tips called in.
Lozano also said the robbery has hurt business in other ways. Feathered Friends also serves as a boarding facility for birds and some people have decided not to have their birds boarded there after the robbery.
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