A pet shop owner is spitting feathers after thieves stole two valuable baby parrots from his business in Wyke.

The African Greys were taken from Newlin Pets on Whitehall Road shortly before 4.30pm yesterday.

Four youths burst into the main part of the shop while owner Brian Cartwright, pictured, was in the back tending to the fish tanks.

They shut the door, trapping him, while they took the two 13-week old parrots, valued at £500 each, from the shelves in their cages and fled in a car.

Mr Cartwright is being made redundant from his job at Westbrook Lanolin Company in Laisterdyke, Bradford, and plans to run the pet store full time.

He said: "They pushed the door, trapping me inside, while they got the birds and put them into a car. By the time I could get out they had driven off.

"They knew what they were doing and I think they have taken them to sell on. It is very upsetting because I have just been made redundant and wanted to go into this full time. It is just one thing after another."

Mr Cartwright says there is a big trade in parrots, and that the birds have probably already been sold.

"They do this a lot - a friend of mine in Halifax had two African Greys stolen from his hut recently," he said.

"The birds will be taken to auction and even before it starts someone will have bought them.

"It will be the same old story: 'My daughter's got asthma and we have to get rid of them,' and that's the job done. They will get £300 for each bird and it's easy money."

The suspects are all thought to be in their late teens. One was wearing a white baseball cap. They left in a white car.

Anybody who has any information about the incident should contact Bradford police on 0845 6060606.

l In a separate incident, a pet shop owner was left fuming after vandals set fire to four bales of hay on his van.

Stephen Kay parked his Vauxhall Astra outside his business Always Pets and Gardens on Towngate, Wyke, at lunchtime yesterday but he was alerted to the fire by a customer who came in at about 12.30pm.

"As I came out of the shop, all I saw was thick smoke and flames coming off the roof of my van.

"I do carry animals in my van and it was lucky I didn't have any there at the time."

The fire did not cause damage to the van but left a charred mess in the street.