Cat burglar crash

PHUKET: Being a keen breeder of songbirds, 34-year-old Chalong resident Warathep Udomsap would have been used to being woken up by the dawn chorus coming from the bird cages he kept at the back of his house. At dawn on May 28, however, he was awoken by some much less appealing noises: a loud crash followed by anguished wailing. As K. Warathep, who owns a secondhand motorcycle shop, was sleeping in his bed that morning, he heard the sound of a roof tile breaking, followed by a loud bang and a panicked scream. When he went to investigate, he encountered a young man, later identified as 24-year-old Wirat Bangsuri, lying in his front room moaning and crying with pain. K. Warathep promptly called for police to come and remove the unwanted intruder. K. Warathep told police that Wirat was probably after his collection of more than 10 prize nok krong hua juk, or red-whiskered bulbuls, which he said range in value from 20,000 to 100,000 baht each. Police believe that Wirat was trying to climb over the roof to get to the birds, which were kept at the back of the house, when he fell through the tiles. On questioning, Wirat admitted that he was indeed after the birds. He was subsequently charged with attempted theft. The report did not mention the extent of the damage to K. Warathep’s roof nor how serious were the injuries to Wirat, and who was generously described in the report as a teen maew, or “cat burglar”. Although his taste for winged prey may have matched that description, his skill at traversing rooftops proved to be anything but feline in nature.