One summer night in June 2009, Edwin Rist broke into the Tring natural history museum and stole nearly 300 preserved birds worth some quarter of a million pounds. How he pulled off this crime, what motivated him, and how he was caught is one wild story. Join us for part one of this story as we lay the ground work and explain how some quirks of history lead to this crime.

This story was brought to public attention by Kirk Wallace Johnson in his amazing book, The Feather Thief: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-feather-thief-9780099510666

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Notes

Birds:

• Spangled Cotinga: https://ebird.org/species/spacot1
• Red-ruffed Fruitcrow: https://ebird.org/species/rerfru1
• Resplendent Quetzal: https://ebird.org/species/resque1?siteLanguage=en_AU
• Superb Bird-of-Paradise: https://ebird.org/species/vosbop1/
• King Bird-of-Paradise: https://ebird.org/species/kbopar1

Feather Trade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plume_hunting
Salmon flies: https://www.google.com/search?q=salmon+flies&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiFm4GOi9z2AhWek9gFHSjVB_kQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=salmon+fl&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQARgBMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDoECAAQQzoGCAAQBxAeOggIABCABBCxA1CpBljZB2DuF2gAcAB4AIABtwGIAfcDkgEDMC4zmAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfAAQE&sclient=img&ei=wf46YsW2D56n4t4PqKqfyA8&bih=714&biw=1536&hl=en
George Mortimer Kelson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Kelson
Lionel Walter Rothschild: https://www.lindahall.org/lionel-walter-rothschild/ 
Tring Natural History Museum: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/tring.html