[UPDATED 2016-09-30 @ 1505 UTC] The one-man “Cows Over the World” DXpedition has ended — prematurely, abruptly, and on a sad note. Tom Callas, KC0W, reported that a theft this week in Kiribati has left him with nothing. He told The Daily DX that his Cows DXpedition is "permanently QRT."

“Everything I own was stolen on 28 September from here in Kiribati,” Callas posted on his QRZ.com page. “They took all the radios, computers, amplifiers, antennas, coax, everything. They even took my clothing and shoes. I have literally nothing left. I type this with tears in my eyes.”

The “Cows Over the World” DXpedition got under way last spring, when the Minnesota DXer fired up as KH8/KC0W from American Samoa. Other stops followed. After a short hiatus, Callas had announced plans last week to resume with his T30COW operation from Western Kiribati, but he said his intended “Top 25 Most Wanted” DXpeditions would not happen. He has been financing the round-robin DXpedition on his own. Callas was awaiting permission to operate from Tokelau and Nauru. All call signs in the all-CW DXpedition tour have included a “COW” suffix.Callas has told The Daily DX that “all logs” for his T30COW operation have been uploaded to ClubLog. He also expressed his appreciation on his QRZ.com profile page.

“I have read the many supportive comments posted on both QRZ and eHam. A heartfelt thanks. Some guys have asked about financially donating to my plight. This is very generous, but I respectfully and humbly decline. Us people from the Midwest are like that. Either too proud (or too dumb) to accept money without actually working for it. Please donate your time helping a kid learn Morse code if you want to “donate” anything at all.

“My bank wired me funds so I can now eat again (literally). No joke, they even stole all my food. I have cancelled all future DXing activity until I return back to the USA and purchase new equipment. Gud DX es Long Live CW from here in Western Kiribati, where it’s always 5NN (except for when local ‘QRM’ makes you go QRT really quick).”

In addition to T30COW, his Cows DXpedition has also included operations as 5W0COW, T2COW, and YJ0COW. Announced plans of operating from the Solomons, Tokelau, Bangladesh and other locations now are off the table.

In the past, Callas has operated from St Helena Island (ZD7X), Cambodia (XU7XXX), Haiti (HH5/KC0W), and Martinique (TO0O), and he has handed out more than 100,000 contacts overall, including those logged from his Pacific operations.