When I heard the devastating news on Friday morning, my first question was ‘why would someone want 50 birds?’

Last week, thieves apparently gained entry through a shed on the park’s boundary and exited through a gate, using the park’s own bolt cutters.

They stole a reported $6000 worth of birds.

As a result, many chicks have been left without their mothers and a hand-raised 30-year-old Alexandrine parakeet has been taken out of the care of park rangers. 

His 20-year-old mate, who has spent her entire life with him, is now alone.

Others stolen included two male and one female eclectus parrots, regent parrots, lorikeets, quails, ringneck parrots and cockatiels.

I remember visiting the park as a kid.

Riding on the train was great, but seeing those cages of hundreds of different birds was always the highlight. 

The calls of different bird species greeting me as I walked through the gates and down to the bird enclosures are still rich in my mind. 

From every corner in the park, you were sure to hear their squawking and singing. 

Anyone visiting the park this week will not hear those same sounds.

Coming into spring is prime time for the park and is also the birds’ breeding season. 

About 20 eggs will no longer hatch due to the raid.

Birdland is more than an animal park or a tourist attraction. 

It is a sanctuary, with many birds delivered there after their elderly owners passed on or could no longer care for them.

A theft of this nature and scale is not something that goes unnoticed in small towns such as Batemans Bay and Moruya. 

For the Birdland staff, losing the birds was more like losing a family. 

I hope the birds will be returned and those responsible caught. 

So, keep your ears to the ground and your eyes to the sky.

Anyone with any information should phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

EMILY BARTON