Fish Bandit

[June 2nd, 2004] Once in a blue moon, a story comes along of such epic skullduggery that the Rogue Desk practically rattles with excitement. Thus it was when we feverishly pored over a torrid email we received from Joleen Hope, alerting us to the existence of a rogue for the ages: a mysterious fish bandit.

The scene was almost tailor-made for Encyclopedia Brown. A week ago, Hope, who owns Blooms-N-More Nursery in Oregon City, was about to depart for an evening out with her husband, Jim, to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary when she decided to pay her three outdoor fish ponds a quick visit. Through the evening light, Hope noticed that one 700-gallon tank, home to about 40 butterfly koi--basically an expensive, fancy-looking carp--was suddenly empty. A second tank was missing 10 more fish. Value of missing fish: $1,000.

"When I saw that they were gone, I yelled to my husband, 'Oh my God, someone stole my fish!'" Hope reports.

Hope wasted no time in getting the word out about the aquatic thief. That night, she put up posters around her neighborhood ("Have you seen these fish?"), filed a missing-fish report with police and sent out an all-points bulletin to news media outlets alerting them that a burglar was on the loose.

The Rogue Desk was thrilled.

By Thursday morning, with the help of her neighbor, Hope found evidence pointing to the identity of the bandit. A few tails and assorted scales at the bottom of each tank could mean only one thing: The culprit was...the majestic blue heron. Foiled! Our visions of masked aquatic brigands were a big red herring.

But the heron's hunting strategy was brilliant. Koi are skittish and prefer to stick to the bottom of their tank, a couple of feet down and out of the reach of birds--unless they're being fed. The heron, Hope discovered, sat on the edge of the tank and spat on the surface of the water, making the fish think it was dinner time and bringing them to the surface for easy bird feeding.

"It's really sad," Hope says. "I had three years invested in these guys, and that was all erased in one fatal morning."