Bird-Feather Thief Escapes Jail Time

Twenty-two-year-old Edwin Rist, who last November plead guilty to stealing 299 rare bird pelts from the Tring museum in England, was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence. “The museum’s director of science, Professor Richard Lane, said at the time of the break-in that the birds formed part of a collection assembled over 350 years.” From the BBC News.

From the Press Association: “After the court hearing, Detective Inspector Fraser Wylie from Dacorum Local Crime Unit said: ‘This is a very positive result against a man who, through his obsession with fly-tying and greed for money, essentially tried to rob the world of some of its natural heritage.'”