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Heist of 100,000 Eggs in US Becomes Whodunit that Police Have Yet to Crack

Eggs sit for sale at a grocery store, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, in Windham, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Eggs sit for sale at a grocery store, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, in Windham, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
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Heist of 100,000 Eggs in US Becomes Whodunit that Police Have Yet to Crack

Eggs sit for sale at a grocery store, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, in Windham, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Eggs sit for sale at a grocery store, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, in Windham, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

The heist of 100,000 eggs from the back of a trailer in Pennsylvania has become a whodunit that police have yet to crack.
Four days after the theft that law enforcement say could be tied to the sky-high cost of eggs, no leads have come in, Trooper First Class Megan Frazer, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Police, said Wednesday.
“We’re relying on leads from people from the community. So we’re hoping that somebody knows something, and they’ll call us and give us some tips,” she said.
Police are also following up with any possible witnesses and looking into surveillance footage that could help them identify the perpetrator as they race to solve the mystery.
“In my career, I’ve never heard of a hundred thousand eggs being stolen. This is definitely unique," said Frazer, who has a dozen years on the job.
Bird flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, pushing US egg prices to more than double their cost in the summer of 2023. And it appears there may be no relief in sight with Easter approaching.
The average price per dozen eggs nationwide hit $4.15 in December. That is not quite as high as the $4.82 record set two years ago, but the Agriculture Department predicts egg prices are going to soar another 20% this year.
The 100,000 eggs were snatched from the back of Pete & Gerry’s Organics' distribution trailer on Saturday about 8:40 p.m. in Antrim Township, according to police.
They are worth about $40,000, which means this crime is a felony, Frazer said.
Pete & Gerry’s Organics LLC said in a statement that the company is working with law enforcement to investigate the theft.
“We take this matter seriously and are committed to resolving it as quickly as possible,” the statement said.

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Varieties

A Herd Stop: Train Kills 3 Rare Bison in Poland

30 May 2016. BIALOWIEZA, POLAND. REUTERS/KACPER PEMPEL
30 May 2016. BIALOWIEZA, POLAND. REUTERS/KACPER PEMPEL
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A Herd Stop: Train Kills 3 Rare Bison in Poland

30 May 2016. BIALOWIEZA, POLAND. REUTERS/KACPER PEMPEL
30 May 2016. BIALOWIEZA, POLAND. REUTERS/KACPER PEMPEL

Three wild European bison died on Sunday morning after being hit by a train in Poland's vast UNESCO-listed Bialowieza Forest in the east, the local police told AFP.

According to a police spokesman, a herd of Europe's largest mammals, whose male specimens can reach 900 kilograms (nearly 2,000 pounds), crossed onto the train tracks as a locomotive carrying some 50 passengers between Bialystock and Warsaw aboard was steaming ahead.

"No passenger was injured but three animals perished in this accident, which happened at 7:00 am, near the village of Witowo," spokesman Konrad Karwacki told AFP.

The "Zubr" line train, which takes its name from the Polish word for bison, did not derail and was able to resume its journey around an hour and a half after the collision.

Some 1,200 bison, an emblematic animal in the eastern European country, currently inhabit the Polish part of the great Bialowieza Forest, considered the last primeval woodland in Europe.

The forest, which is divided by the Poland-Belarus border, is a treasure of biodiversity and a giant carbon sink.

Yet several bison fall victim to road accidents in the region every year.

"They are sometimes hit by trains, but these are usually isolated incidents," Professor Rafal Kowalczyk, from a local branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences, told AFP.

"I don't recall an accident where three bison were killed at the same time, run over by a train," the specialist in the giant mammals added.

Devastated by hunting, deforestation and the expansion of agriculture, the European bison nearly became extinct at the beginning of the 20th century.

After disappearing from Bialowieza, its last habitat in Europe, before the outbreak of World War II, the species was saved at the 11th hour thanks to the release of bison reared in zoos back into the wild.

Varieties

Can Nations Save the Shorebird that Flies 30,000 km a Year?

The Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica) is one of the world's most remarkable travelers, but its population has plunged 95 percent in four decades due to a complex mix of environmental changes across multiple countries. Luke Seitz / Cornell Lab of Ornithology/AFP
The Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica) is one of the world's most remarkable travelers, but its population has plunged 95 percent in four decades due to a complex mix of environmental changes across multiple countries. Luke Seitz / Cornell Lab of Ornithology/AFP
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Can Nations Save the Shorebird that Flies 30,000 km a Year?

The Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica) is one of the world's most remarkable travelers, but its population has plunged 95 percent in four decades due to a complex mix of environmental changes across multiple countries. Luke Seitz / Cornell Lab of Ornithology/AFP
The Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica) is one of the world's most remarkable travelers, but its population has plunged 95 percent in four decades due to a complex mix of environmental changes across multiple countries. Luke Seitz / Cornell Lab of Ornithology/AFP

Chasing an endless summer, one shorebird species undertakes a grueling annual journey from the Arctic to the tip of South America and back -- a feat increasingly fraught with peril.

The Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica) is one of the world's most remarkable travelers, but its population has plunged 95 percent in four decades due to a complex mix of environmental changes across multiple countries, said AFP.

It is one of 42 species proposed for international protection at a meeting of parties to the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) that starts in Brazil on Monday.

Iconic creatures like the snowy owl -- of Harry Potter fame -- striped hyena and hammerhead shark are also on the list deemed in danger of extinction and needing conservation by the countries they pass through.

Migratory birds are facing "rapid and dramatic declines," said Nathan Senner, an ecologist and ornithology professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who has studied the Hudsonian godwit for 20 years.

Scientists are still unraveling the mysteries of the shorebird -- which can fly up to 11,000 kilometers (6,800 miles) in one stretch without stopping to eat, drink, or sleep.

And it is only part of the 30,000 kilometers (18,600 miles) that the godwit travels every year from their breeding grounds in the Arctic to Patagonia where they spend the southern summer.

- Disrupted migrations -

In order to do this "epic flight," they need "really predictable, abundant food resources" at every step of the journey, Senner told AFP.

That predictability is crumbling.

In the Arctic, shifting spring timing attributed to climate change has created a mismatch between when chicks hatch and the peak availability of insects they feed on.

One of the puzzles Senner is currently working on is why Hudsonian godwits have begun migrating later by six days than they did a decade ago.

Something "has either disrupted the cues that they use to time their migrations or their ability to successfully and rapidly prepare for the migration," he said.

In southern Chile, a boom in salmon and oyster farming has led to a build-up of infrastructure and the presence of people in the intertidal zones where they feed.

And in the United States, changes in farming practices are making the shallow water wetlands that the godwits rely on rarer and less predictable -- meaning they spend more time looking for a place to stop and feed.

"I think that is emblematic of lots of species, that most species can respond to one kind of change, but not a whole bunch of them all at the same time," said Senner.

- Essential to ecosystems -

"Climate change is taking a heavy toll on species that rely on a 'geological clock' for their survival; many are disappearing," Rodrigo Agostinho, president of Brazil's environmental agency (Ibama), told AFP.

These are some of the issues CMS parties will tackle at their meeting in Brazil's biodiversity-rich Pantanal, one of the world's most important global meetings for wildlife conservation.

These countries are legally obliged to protect species listed as at risk of extinction, conserve and restore their habitats, prevent obstacles to migration and cooperate with other range states.

Nevertheless, among the species listed under CMS, a report released earlier this month showed that 49 percent now have populations that are declining, up from 44 percent two years ago.

Amy Fraenkel, CMS executive secretary, told AFP that most of the species doing worse were birds, such as the Hudsonian godwit.

She said the situation was also "particularly alarming" for fish species, with 97 percent of those listed under the treaty threatened with extinction.

Migratory species "are essential to healthy ecosystems and a healthy planet," playing a key role in pollination, pest control and transporting nutrients, she said.

In a piece of good news, the meeting will propose removing Central Asia's Bactrian deer from its list of animals needing high protection, due to an increase in its population.

Varieties

Dog Finds Canadian Message in a Bottle on Aberdeenshire Beach

A message in a bottle (Shutterstock) 
A message in a bottle (Shutterstock) 
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Dog Finds Canadian Message in a Bottle on Aberdeenshire Beach

A message in a bottle (Shutterstock) 
A message in a bottle (Shutterstock) 

A message in a bottle dropped from a boat off Canada has been found washed up in the north-east of Scotland, according to BBC.

The short letter, written in French and dated in 2024, was found inside the bottle at St Cyrus in Aberdeenshire.

Having travelled across the Atlantic, it was found by one of Mike Scott's dogs during a beach walk.

The 60-year-old said he was “amazed” by the bottle's journey of about 2,700 miles (4,300km).

The professional photographer from Johnshaven takes his dogs to St Cyrus most days for a walk.

He described the weather as “wild” at the time they discovered the bottle.

“As I was walking, Maggie my dog was sniffing a bottle that was just washing up. It was a really dark glass bottle with a lid and something in it,” he said.

He explained: “I had found a message in a bottle before, but it was just from Dundee, so I was not expecting much. There was a zip bag in it, and a letter in French. I put it in my rucksack and put it on translate when I got home.”

The note - which appeared to be signed 'Annie Chiasson' - said the bottle had been put to sea from a ferry travelling between Prince Edward Island and Iles-de-la-Madeleine in August 2024.

Scott said, “So the small glass bottle has survived two winters at sea, travelling from the east coast of Canada, across the north Atlantic, over the top of Scotland and down into the North Sea for us to find at St Cyrus.”

“The sender was asking to let them know if found,” he said. “We found the woman on Facebook, my wife sent a message, but we have heard nothing back.”

BBC Scotland News has also tried to contact the sender.

Scott said, “It was such a weird thing to find, it's not just our own rubbish that washes up. It's amazing it was not smashed. I do not imagine she thought it would end up in Scotland across the Atlantic.”