Teacher tried for theft of 7,000 eggs
Once warned students on egg legalities
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BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- A German teacher who once warned his pupils to refrain from picking up rare bird eggs is on trial for amassing over 7,000 of them.
A spokesman for a court in Potsdam near Berlin said the 62-year-old man had been charged on 131 counts of theft dating back to 1991.
Many of the eggs are so rare that stealing them carries a five-year jail sentence. "Every egg is unique," the geography teacher told the court according to the Bild newspaper. "I know I was damaging the environment, but I couldn't help it."
Before the thefts came to light and his school sacked him, he once hung up a showcase of eggs in school with a written warning that picking up eggs was against the law.
"I know I was being hypocritical but I ignored it," he said.
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