
The Owl Thieves of Sweden - antigizmo
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/stealing-owls/559136/
======
ChuckMcM
It is an interesting phenomena that when 'easy' crime is eliminated the
criminals move up to more violent things.

There has been speculation that the legalization of marijuana has led to an
upswing in petty theft and muggings because of the loss of jobs as 'drug
dealer' (well at least for pot). And the weird thing for me is that if you
think of criminal activity as a job market it sort of makes sense, what is
your low level criminal to do to earn a living?

Wouldn't it be odd if UBI was a solution to criminal activity? (or would that
narrative be more paying off the criminals?) Interesting things to
contemplate.

~~~
jopsen
Any short term upswing as a result of idle criminals is likely to be drowned
out in the long term by reduced financial feasibility.

Also a 15% increase in crime for a country with a fairly low crime rate could
just be a statistical fluke...

For example, if the 2 bank robberies becomes 3 next year, I'm not sure it's
fair panic over a 50% increase in bank robberies :)

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gerdesj
_A single great gray owl—known as the “phantom of the north”—now goes for 1
million kronor (about $120,000) on the dark web._

So, teach the Police in relevant areas how to breed Grey Owls and pretty soon
the market value precludes owl theft and the species is no longer on the red
list. I'll hand-wave the economics and feasibility at this point ...

OK, sillies apart, crime is here to stay and if you gradually exhaust one seam
(mining analogy here) then you may cause another to become profitable -
gradually. If you set fire to the seam then don't be too surprised if things
change rapidly. On the bright side: journalists can publish articles about
those rapid changes.

Also on the bright side: the article doesn't ramble, is informative and is an
enjoyable read - a good example of a journo in great form.

~~~
ghostbrainalpha
The entire article only references owls once. As an owl enthusiast. I found
the lack of bird related content extremely dissatisfying.

Also in reply to your idea about breeding owls. I'm sure you can guess that it
is difficult to breed these animals in captivity. If it were not, owl breeding
would be more profitable than owl stealing.

There are 3 reasons for this.

1) Owls are monogamous during the breeding season.

2) The hooting season is very short.

3) Owl eggs are delicious.

~~~
gerdesj
I too felt a little sold short on owl refs in the article. I live next door to
a park with a very decent owl population judging by the row the buggers make
(Tawny and Barn owls at least)

I've never tried an owl egg and I trust your assertion is not based on
personal experience.

~~~
ghostbrainalpha
These are the only owl eggs we eat at my house.

[http://therebelchick.com/deviled-owl-eggs-recipe-
california-...](http://therebelchick.com/deviled-owl-eggs-recipe-california-
ripe-olives-calolivecrafts/)

~~~
gerdesj
Nice one. However - chicken eggs is ... ... ... are they better? ... ... ...

The olives are probably unperturbed.

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MrBuddyCasino
„Crimes against people—assault, robbery, fraud—are also on the rise. The
Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention found that in 2016, 15.6 percent
of the country’s citizens fell prey to at least one such offense—the highest
rate since the council launched its annual crime survey, 10 years before.“

That... seems extremely high?

~~~
ShorsHammer
It also includes other crimes such as harassment and is not based on actual
police reports.

[https://www.thelocal.se/20171116/a-growing-number-of-
swedes-...](https://www.thelocal.se/20171116/a-growing-number-of-swedes-are-
victims-of-crime-survey-assault-sexual-harassment)

------
walrus01
I would not ordinarily link to reddit, but

[http://www.reddit.com/r/suberbowl](http://www.reddit.com/r/suberbowl)

not what you might think it is, from reading the URL.

~~~
reaperducer
One of the coffee shops I frequent has had big Superb Owl events every year
for the last few. It's quite something.

It positions itself as the anti-bar.

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SiempreViernes
How many (unused) post-it notes do you have to take with you for it to count
as Stealing, rather than just ”stealing”? If you take one normal stack a year
home, is that enought to be a thief? Asking for a friend.

------
reaperducer
_> Swedish bank robbers and light-fingered cashiers have gone the way of ABBA
hit singles. _

I guess Swedish police should be ready for two bank robberies in December:
[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/abba-record-first-
ne...](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/abba-record-first-new-songs-
together-in-35-years-w519624)

------
reaperducer
Slightly off topic -- What do tourists do when they go to Sweden? When I go to
a foreign country, I bring at least enough currency with me for the first few
days to pay for transportation from the airport, tip the bellman and the room
service and maid.

Do people just pick up a local cash card, like getting a local bus pass at a
kiosk or a tobacconist?

~~~
nicoburns
My debit card from my bank works just fine overseas (I only ever have issues
in the US where some places only seem to accept magnetic stripe, which seems
less reliable).

~~~
roywiggins
Americans have the opposite problem: machines that require chip and pin. We
have chips now, but not pins. When I visited Sweden with a chipless debit card
it meant getting a passport photo taken in a Swedish photo booth at midnight
involved convincing a cashier to give me 150 kronor in 10kr coins as change to
feed the sole change-eating booth in the Stockholm central station

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partycoder
Owls are useful.

Rather than using rat poison and setting up mouse traps, an owl can take care
of rats very effectively.

~~~
ghostbrainalpha
That's an expensive (120k), mousetrap.

~~~
gaius
Nobody likes a rat, so it’s worth it. Especially in prison.

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steanne
hm... the range map on wikipedia for that species doesn't even have them in
sweden

