VIDEO: Thieves steal snakes from Gwinnett County pet shop
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - Thieves steal three boa constrictors from a Duluth pet shop and it's all caught on camera. Two men posed as customers to buy mice, but their plan all along was to steal the snakes. This isn't the first pet store this has happened to.
The store owner said this is the fifth store she knows about where snakes have been stolen. She said she's not worried about the money; she's worried about the safety of the snakes.
Surveillance cameras capture the two men standing at the counter. The employee goes to the back to get some mice, that's when the store owner said one of the men walks over to the cage, reaches in, and grabs three red tail boa constrictors.
"It makes me really bad. It's frustrating. For one it's not safe, the animals are now possibly going to get sick and die," said Cyndi Moore, owner of Reigning Reptiles.
Moore hopes someone can identify the men. She showed me another surveillance video from a business next door that caught the men as the pulled up to the store. She said she's tired of thieves targeting pet shops.
"There's been a total of five including us in this year easy," said Moore.
Moore said the snakes will more than likely be sold online or at a reptile show if the snakes survive. And she said judging on how the man pulled them out of the cage, it's not looking good for the snakes.
"They need to be at 80 degrees. They need to be warm and it's winter. And if you’re going to do that are you going to take care of them? Probably not," said Moore.
But she said she will find these men and she will prosecute.
"I don't think it's appropriate to say ‘bring them back and you will be free of all of your charges’ because that's not going to be the case. This is too many businesses, too many families getting taken advantages of, " said Moore. "We're not going to be pulled around. People aren't going to come in here and just steal what we work so hard to take care of."
Anyone who recognizes the men should contact the Gwinnett County Police Department.