Thieves got their claws into a pet shop and took flight with all but one of the occupants.

The break-in happened at Roxton Pet Centre on New Road, Great Barford, at some point between 4pm on Friday (July 9) and 9am on Saturday (July 10), and birds worth £670 were stolen.

Pet centre owner Charles Howieson said: "All I came into on Saturday morning was a hole where my door used to be and a big pile of glass on the floor."

He said: "There must have been about 40 birds or thereabouts.

"I don't know what they brought with them but they stole a small bird transporter of mine. They put some into canvass bags and the rest I don't know what they did with."

A wide range of birds were stolen including a pair of redrump parrots, finches, canaries and sparrows.

However, one small java sparrow managed to elude the thieves and was discovered by Mr Howieson on Saturday morning.

He added "I think I will call him Lucky, because he was lucky to survive the thieves and lucky to survive the night."

For the full story see the July 16 edition of the Biggleswade Chronicle.