STOCKTON, Calif. — Stockton Police are looking for three suspects who reportedly stole three Ball Pythons from Carter’s Pet Mart in Stockton Friday evening.
The stolen pythons are valued between $1,400 and $2,000 according to Ryan Carter, the store's owner.
“They were walking around for a bit, went over to the locked animal cages, broke the lock off on one of the tanks where one of the high ball pythons are individually stored, each grabbed one and walked out,” Carter told ABC10. On Tuesday, Carter posted on Facebook saying that the snakes were returned.
This is not the first time in recent months Carter’s Pet Mart has had expensive animals stolen.
According to Carter this was the sixth theft from the store this year.
“As of lately we’ve just had quite a bit of theft,'' Carter said. “We had an exotic bird that got stolen not too long ago that was worth over $6,000, that luckily we were able to get back.”
The store owner said he has made preemptive plans to increase security following its most recent string of expensive animal thefts.
“There’s new systems coming with better locking and new bird units that are coming that have better security,” Carter said.
However despite recent attempts to deter thieves, Carter said he worries people looking to steal the store’s expensive animals will continue to get away with it.
“It's unfortunate, we've done a lot to prevent theft.” Carter said. “We installed security, we’ve everything locked up, but if they want something they’re going to try to get it at any means.”
Any information known about the incident or the suspects can be reported to the Stockton Police Department.
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