When budgie breeder Andrew Pooley walked into his aviary, the silence told him something dreadful had happened.
His fears were soon confirmed: on the eve of a big show, 21 of his prized birds had been stolen and his champion, Penmead Pride, had been stamped to death.
Police today confirmed that they were investigating the break-in at Pooley's aviary and were working on the theory that a jealous rival was the guilty party.
Pooley, from Delabole in north Cornwall, said: "I feel terrible. It has been my life's work and Penmead Pride was my first registered champion. I can't believe it.
"Whoever took them knew what they were doing because they have taken the best of the best. It must have been someone who wanted me out of the show. This was a deliberate act of sabotage".
Former quarry worker Pooley, 58, breeds multicoloured budgies known as recessive pieds and keeps them in his shed in a specially built aviary.
The attack happened last month as Pooley, secretary of the Caged Bird Society, prepared his birds for the Cornwall budgerigar show.
He left his aviary door unlocked as he took his partner's daughter to town. He went to shed at 9.45pm to discover the birds missing and Penmead Pride, named after a road in Delabole, stamped to death, along with two others birds.
The Guardian
