9/5/2023 0 Comments The feather thief![]() It highlights the craze and feather phenomenon of using feathers in fashion - including using whole birds on top of hats. It also traces the steps of Alfred Russel Wallace as he searches for birds in the wild, uncharted places in the world. Kirk Wallace Johnson’s book encompasses not just the story of Edwin Rist’s theft. The compelling, well-researched, “Feather Thief” He graduated, moved to Germany, and now goes under the assumed name of Edwin Reinhard, posting YouTube videos of himself playing heavy metal flute. Without punishment, Edwin Rist went out into the world. What Rist stole, contrary to the implied assertion that there were just a bunch of dead birds from a dusty old museum, can NEVER be replaced. Scientists have used those century-old birds to determine how our ecosystems are changing, like the impact of DDT pesticides on the bird population and the rise of mercury in the ocean. It’s bad enough that Edwin Rist suffered no consequences for making money from his bird specimen heist, but he did unimaginable damage to research. More worrisome even than the profiteering angle He used the money, he said, to buy a new flute. ![]() Those birds he stole were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and Edwin made thousands of dollars from those sales before he was caught. Edwin was released and did not have to serve any jail time for his significant crime. When his case went to court, Edwin’s lawyer claimed he was a victim of Asperger’s Disease. The evidence, after all, was in boxes and bags around his apartment. Police tracked down Ewin Rist who immediately confessed. Time elapsed before a detective started looking at online fly-tying forums and found that someone was selling some of the same feathers that came from stolen birds. You’ll have to read this fascinating book to get all the details of it, but the crux of the story is that months after Rist stole the birds, the museum discovered the theft. Undetected and under cover of night, he took 299 birds, stuffing them into to a duffel bag and his backpack.Įdwin Rist understood the value of exotic bird feathers to the rabid fly-tying community and planned to profit from that lust. Months later, after he played in a concert, he took the train to the museum, armed with gloves and a glass cutter, and entered through a window at the back. He also drew a diagram and a written plan of how to get into the Tring. ![]() When permission was granted in 2009, Rist took a train to his destination and toured the facility, snapping pictures the whole time. What was special about the Tring? The collection of ornithological specimens houses 95% of all known bird species, about 750,000 individual examples, neatly tagged and stored in metal drawers. Edwin needed a new flute if he was going to compete with the top echelon of musicians, and he got an idea.Įdwin Rist wrote a letter under another name requesting access to a branch of the British Natural History Museum located at Tring, thirty miles outside of London. When Edwin Rist left to go to college to study music and the flute at London’s Royal Academy of Music, his parents were struggling financially. ![]() His parents arranged for him to have lessons from another older fly-tier, and Edwin began to attend conferences and contests, winning several awards for his aptitude and speed of creating flies. He became obsessed with the hobby after he saw fly-tying on television. Not only was he a burgeoning prodigy with the flute, but he was also a heck of a fly-tier. Edwin Rist had a great brain, and apparently, he was good with his hands.
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