Bear Creek chicken caper: Source says thieves claimed reward, flew the coop
2 birds still missing
Bring back Egguardita and Fishy and nobody goes to jail.
That’s the message Bear Creek Academy Principal Monica Rodgers is sending out after getting closer to figuring out who stole the dozen chickens from the school’s coop.
After all but two chickens were returned by supposed Good Samaritans, Rodgers said the school was contacted by an anonymous source who claimed the family who returned the chickens were, in fact, the same people responsible for their theft.
The two still-missing chickens, Egguardita and Fishy, were sold before the school announced a $900 reward for the chickens’ safe return. Once the reward offer popped up, the 10 not-yet-sold chickens were returned by the family. At the time, the family told school officials they’d heard about the missing birds from social media.
Rodgers said administrators now believe that couple stole the chickens to sell but realized they’d get a better return by accepting the reward.
“We received a call from someone who saw the story on the news,” Rodgers said. “The man said he bought two chickens and returned them to the seller once he found out they were stolen.”
That man led school administrators and law enforcement to the same couple who returned the first flock and received the reward money.
“I just can’t get my mind wrapped around anybody stealing chickens from children at a school and then bringing them back and taking reward money that was from parents, from a school, and you were the ones that took them in the first place,” said Rodgers.
School administration is in communication with the Moundville Police Department, Rodgers said, and it’s believed the people responsible for the theft may have left the area.
But it’s not the money school administrators, parents and students are concerned about. It’s those last two missing chickens. They’re part of the Bear Creek Academy family and their absence is devastating.
Students are still in shock.
“It’s kind of funny how you steal a chicken and come back and hope they don’t think ‘hmm, how did they know that these chickens were here?’ ” said Bear Creek Student Quinn Miller.
Rodgers said the safe return of Egguardita and Fishy is her No. 1 priority.
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