Do you recognize this birdnapper? Menifee store owner searching for man who stole exotic bird worth $7K

A Menifee storeowner is pleading with the public’s help in identifying the man who swiped an exotic bird from her shop and took off.

Surveillance footage captured video of a man at the Birds-N-Paradise exotic bird store stealing a 4-month-old blue-and-yellow macaw worth $7,000. According to store owner Lori Lister, the bird that was stolen is on a special diet that is given via a particular technique and may not survive without it.

“It’s just sickening that someone can come in and take our birds like that,” Lister said. “Or that we raised since it was 3-weeks-old.”

Birds-N-Paradise has several exotic birds that the store owner describes as more than pets to her, but as family.

“They are everything to us and losing one of them is like losing a family member,” Lister said.

The unidentified birdnapper took off with the blue-and-yellow macaw Wednesday in a car that possibly had a getaway driver. Just days earlier, that same man was walking around the store.

While Lister worries about the well-being of the stolen animal, she also has the potential loss of her business on her mind.

"I've never seen sales so low, so much that even the night before this happened, I told my employee, Cathy, that if things don't pick up by the first, we might have to think about closing down,” Lister said. “I don't want to do that. This is my life's work.”

According to Lister, the bird thief took off in a green or blue vehicle, which could possibly be a Mazda.

Anyone with information on the case is encouraged to contact the Menifee police at 951-723-1570.