AN aviary owner in Elizabeth South has been reunited with one of his feathered friends after it was stolen from his business last Sunday.

Camsal Aviaries owner David Billing was shocked to find a $500 sun conure, named “Loki”, had been stolen from his store at around 1.30pm on May 19.

The thief was captured on CCTV making off from the Wiley Street aviary with the parrot on a pushbike.

Following an investigation, police found and arrested a 50-yearold Woodville man and charged him with theft.

Mr Billing said Loki was a popular type of bird, which is attractive to aviary owners.

“You don‘t expect this sort of thing to happen, we have birds people can interact with and walk around the shop with,” he said.

“It deprives other people of a bit of enjoyment and pleasure.

“It’s a pretty bird, it’s bright orange, yellow and green, it’s a bird a lot of people like to have.

“I always sell them very easily and they come in and out the door pretty quickly.”

Mr Billing, who has run the aviary for eight years, posted the CCTV footage of the thief stealing Loki to the aviary’s Facebook page, and was immediately inundated with tips from the public about the identity of the culprit.

He said it was a surprise when police returned to the aviary with Loki and news of the thief’s arrest.

“We weren’t expecting to see him back again, when the police rolled up I thought they were here for an interview and to get more details about what had happened,” he said.

“As it turns out, they came in with a box and inside it was Loki; I thought that was awesome.

“It was very relieving, we had a stunning response on Facebook, (the post) reached more than 70,000 people.”

It wasn’t the first time a bird had been stolen from Camsal Aviaries, with another sun conure taken from the store in the middle of last year.

Loki was a replacement for the stolen bird, which Mr Billing hoped was being looked after by the culprits of last year’s theft.

Mr Billing said Loki lives in a cage with two other colourful parrots who were “happy to see him” when he was returned.

“We’d like to thank SAPOL and all the people on Facebook for looking out for our interests, we’re very happy,” he said.

“It’s quite humbling when you find that many people who are interested in what we do.”

The bird thief was granted bail and will appear in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court on July 2.