Chicks stolen from Bishop’s College within four days of arrival

The residents of Paul’s Avenue are being highly commended for their work in recovering some young chickens that were taken from the Bishop’s College grounds over the weekend.{{more}}

They were also instrumental in identifying the person responsible for the act, this according to the school’s agricultural science teacher, Conroy Huggins.

As a result of the swift action by the residents, the birds were returned on Monday, and the perpetrator apprehended.

“We are extremely pleased; I can’t even emphasize this enough,” Huggins told SEARCHLIGHT.

Of the quantity of birds that were stolen, Huggins said that 15 broilers are unaccounted for, but he was grateful to the members of the community, which include a student of the school, Yannick Bacchus.

Huggins told SEARCHLIGHT that he received a call on Sunday morning from the school’s principal, who informed him that the pen had been broken into and all the young birds were missing.

“On my way to church, I was like, that is just unbelievable,” he said.

“I did not imagine that someone would have stolen the chicks within three to four days. There’s no meat on them; they’re just chicks,” Huggins continued.

He explained that the school had received about 70 birds, including 30 layers and 40 broilers on July 11. He said the birds were to be used in the Agricultural Science School Based Assessment exercise for students in forms 4 and 5.

Four birds died after delivery, so going into the weekend, Huggins said that there was a total of 66 birds.

According to Huggins, Bacchus discovered that the birds were missing when he went on Sunday to check on them.

Bacchus has been charged with the responsibility of looking after the birds when classes are out, Huggins explained.

A call was made to the principal, and a subsequent report made to the police.

However young Bacchus and some residents of Paul’s Avenue conducted their own investigations, which eventually led to the recovery of the birds and the apprehension of the thief, who Huggins said is a homeless man, who is not a resident of Paul’s Avenue.

Since the incident, Huggins said that the school has beefed up security on the compound.

Additionally, the school has registered with the Ministry of Agriculture and will be receiving a farmer’s certificate, which would qualify them for patrols by rural constables, he added.

The agriculture project was officially launched on July 2 with the intention of providing students at the school with the opportunity to learn new methods of farming.

At the opening ceremony, Huggins mentioned that praedial larceny had been a major problem at the school over the years and that a number of persons within the Paul’s Avenue community had been enlisted to get involved and keep an eye on the project while the school is unoccupied. (DD)