More than 24 ‘aggressive’ snake species stolen from exotic pet store

Stephanie Tracy, owner of Wild Things exotic pet store in East Las Vegas, got a call from her employee Saturday morning that the store had been broken into, several cases were smashed and multiple animals had been taken.

Tracy said the burglar broke into the store just before 5 a.m. on June 17, and left just before 5:30 a.m. The Metropolitan Police Department confirmed the burglary call for that day, and said it is still an open investigation.

The store suffered just under $13,000 in damages from just stolen animals and $3,000 in property damages, according to Tracy. The thief took 26 snakes ranging in price from $140 to $1,650.

Tracy has owned and operated Wild Things for 10 years with her husband, Jim Tracy.

The couple said the monetary costs came along with the cost of their peace of mind.

“Every night, you’re, you’re worried that someone’s gonna come back and do it again or somebody else is also going to do it and try to copycat the deal,” Jim Tracy said.

‘All very aggressive species’

The burglary was all caught on surveillance footage. The thief can be seen entering the store, breaking into multiple cases and putting the animals into a bucket before leaving back through the store’s front door.

The couple had to completely replace their front door lock, repair the handlebar on the front door and replace multiple glass animal cases that were smashed and the mesh lids of the cases.

The recent break-in is the second time the store has been burglarized. Stephanie Tracy said the first break-in happened years ago, and that burglar took a tip jar and a few common species of lizards.

The owners said this latest burglary concerns them more, because it seemed more targeted. The burglar removed one of the front door’s handlebars and completely took out the lock.

The way the thief handled the snakes on surveillance footage led the owners to think he had experience in handling reptiles.

“These were all very aggressive species, but he grabbed them expertly,” Stephanie Tracy said. “I would have a hard time grabbing them the way that he did, I would not have gone in there with that much confidence.”

The couple said they were worried about the welfare of the stolen animals. Stephanie said she did not think the burglar would kill or seriously hurt the snakes, but the animals wouldn’t go to the loving homes intended for them.

“These guys were meant to go to a forever home, they were meant to go to somebody who would love them,” Stephanie Tracy said. “This guy stole them, who knows what he’s going to do.”

A GoFundMe to help the business recover from the burglary has raised $1,555 of its $15,000 goal as of Thursday evening.

Stephanie and Jim Tracy said it was the mental toll from the break-in that affected them the most.

“Putting the cages back together, replacing the animals that were stolen, that’s the easy part,” Stephanie Tracy said. “It’s the PTSD, the loss of our feeling that we’re safe, that’s the hardest part to actually get back.

Contact Mark Credico at mcredico@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Instagram @writermark2.