A family-run restaurant in the village of Beachburg was recently the site of an unusual break-in and theft.
Not only cash was stolen but also some tropical fish who were much loved in the community and also worth thousands of dollars.
Lily Dan who has co-owned the restaurant for thirty years, said she loved having the fish for kids and grown-ups to enjoy and struggles to understand why this happened.
“Children, when they come, they love the fish, and a lot of people take their video with them too so i don’t understand why they did it. Why?”
News of the theft spread on social media and sparked an outpouring of support and appreciation from long time customers of the restaurant.
Abby Pleau says she’s gone to The Beachburg Family Restaurant since she was a kid,
“It’s a very heartwarming place to be. The service is always great, the food is always phenomenal” said Pleau, “Eddie, who is the chef and co-owner of the restaurant, is in his late 80s and each and every day he goes into work and cooks the food”
Another customer said she went to see Lily the morning of the break in,
“There she was, you know, glass all over the floor and water from the tank and she met me with a smile on her face, regardless of everything that had happened. And her focus was on getting the restaurant back so that she could open for her customers in the morning. And that’s just goes to show the type of people that they are”
According to Lily, the fish in the tank included discus and clownfish. She said the thieves took not just the fish, but also their food, and the live plants in the tank. One customer thought this might bode well for their outcome.
“They did take the fish food as well and we were hoping that best case scenario they went to a home that would care for them and they survive” said one customer
OPP officer Shawn Peever from Pembroke OPP said he has not experienced anything quite like this case before:
“In 27 years of policing, we, I, have never encountered or heard of fish from an aquarium being stolen”
Peever said that the theft occurred in the early morning hours of April 11th.
“We’re making an appeal to the public if they may have encountered anyone selling fish or seen something online to let us know”
Anyone with information should contact the OPP or crime stoppers.