‘I cried like a little boy’: pigeon fanciers in Belgium relive agony of stolen prized birds

‘You feel sad and upset’: Tom Van Gaver, one of Belgium’s best pigeon fanciers inside his aviary in Moortsele. Photograph: Judith Jockel/The Guardian

When champion pigeon racer Tom Van Gaver walked into one of his lofts one morning last November, he immediately knew something was wrong. Part of the door had been smashed from the inside. He soon realised it was no accident: thieves had broken into his aviary in Moortsele in Flanders and stolen five birds, including Finn, one of his most renowned breeders. Father and grandfather to many champions, Finn was “the Mona Lisa of the pigeon world”, Van Gaver said.

The five birds, he estimates, were worth €750,000 (£625,000), but like da Vinci’s masterpiece, it is hard to tell, because he had no plans to sell. He had ordered a retirement loft so his oldest birds could live out their days under more sun. Instead, CCTV footage shows one of the thieves snatching Finn and bundling the delicate jade-necked dark bird into a plastic bag.