Kleptocat, the purr-fect crime!

By Stephen Holmes.

Greg Healey, a local radio operator for the Coastguard, one day noticed the strange disappearance of his prized lucky fishing gloves; - quickly followed the next day by his prescription sunglasses that had also gone missing off his back porch.

At first he thought that perhaps he had misplaced them or perhaps the wind had blown them under the deck or some other reasonable explanation. As time progressed and items started disappearing one by one, it slowly became apparent that something was afoot and it was not his imagination, nor anything to do with meteorological events.

This had been happening fairly regularly over the course of two months, so Greg and his wife were thinking hard as to who or what was responsible. Then Greg remembered a conversation his wife had a few months prior with a neighbour who phoned her, asking if she had some swimming togs go missing, as her cat had brought them home.

This was the answer they were looking for! So Greg phoned the neighbour who confirmed that she was indeed in possession of the stolen loot!

So after Greg had his items returned, he still had the problem of how to deal with future feline crimes. His solution was to entrap the perpetrator by using one of his gloves as bait. He tied the glove down to the decking so it would be impossible to remove. He also setup a trail camera with night vision which provided a really good mugshot!

Now with the identity of the furry delinquent established, it was time for The Informer to pay the owner of said cat a visit.

Neil and Carol Roberts are the proud owners of seven-year-old Tigger.

“It’s a little embarrassing for us but the neighbours have been really good and understanding, ” says Carol.

“He has brought in t-shirts, gloves, socks and he even brought in a horse blanket once!”

“He meows and meows at the window to tell me to go out and have a look at what he’s caught. I suppose you just to be thankful that it’s not birds or mice he is bringing back.”

The amazing thing about this is that these happenings take place on Tarapatiki Dr, Whitianga, where the houses are at least 200-300 metres apart. In the photo you can see with this story, Tigger has to drag these said items up a very steep and curving driveway, which is a feat in itself!

The footnote to this story is after four years, Neil and Carol will be moving into the city very soon where their new neighbours will be a lot closer together!

Caption: Kleptocat, Tigger, with one of his prized 'steals'.