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Menagerie of animals stolen from Wesley Chapel pet store
By BRADY DENNIS
© St. Petersburg Times, WESLEY CHAPEL -- Whoever broke into Peg's Exotic Pets over the weekend certainly had a flair for adventure. Unlike stealing from a bank or a bakery or a barbershop, the booty in this burglary slithered and crawled. It squeaked and snapped. Among the stolen animals: two red-tailed boa constrictors worth $250 each, six tortoises worth nearly $1,000 and three hedgehogs worth more than $150 each. The burglars also got away with about $500 worth of other creatures: four baby Burmese pythons, a Sinaloan milk snake and four hamsters. "I was really surprised," said Pegi Gilley, owner of the store at 27525 State Road 54. "I've been here almost five years, and I've never been broken into before." One of Gilley's customers, Hillsborough County sheriff's Deputy Jim Campbell, was driving home along State Road 54 about 8 a.m. Sunday when he noticed what he thought was a 3-foot lizard lying dead in the road. Although the animal later turned out to be a small alligator, Thompson said he knew Peg's was the only pet store in the area that handles exotic animals. On a whim, he went to check on the store. He found the front glass door shattered. Inside, several glass terrariums also had been broken. One burglar apparently had been hurt during the theft, as deputies found a small puddle of blood on the floor near some broken glass shards. Deputies also noticed fresh tire tracks and shoe prints outside the back door of the business. They were able to lift fingerprints from several of the glass tanks, which had been wiped clean on Saturday by Gilley's employees. So far, however, deputies have made no arrests in the case. Gilley said she thinks whoever stole the animals wanted either to breed them or resell them. She also said the burglars didn't seem to know the store very well. They left behind more expensive animals she had stored in the back room. Gilley estimated that her total losses in the burglary will reach $8,000 to $10,000 by the time she repairs damages and installs tighter security. But what hurt more was losing animals to which she had grown attached. "Everything in this store until I sell it is my pet," she said. "I hand raise a lot of them. I breed a lot of them myself. They are a part of me."
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From the Times |
