There’s a cat burglar at work in Sapperton, and it needs to be caught right meow — before Carol Ng runs out of shoes.
Ng is looking for help from her neighbours and other New Westies to identify the porch pirate she’s caught on camera making off with her footwear.
The culprit in question? A cat.
Ng, who’s a nurse, usually leaves her work footwear on the back porch of her Garrett Street home, along with the flip-flops she uses to take her dog out.
She never thought twice about doing so, knowing that her backyard is fenced, and she hadn’t had any problems during the year she and her partner have lived in New West.
Until last week.
That’s when one of her work slippers disappeared. Then one of her partner’s slippers.
“I’m like, there’s no way this is a human, because why would they take one of each?” Ng said.
She assumed it must be a raccoon, but they couldn’t catch it on camera. So they angled their camera lower — and lo and behold, there was the feline visitor, brazenly carrying out its footwear heists, one shoe at a time.
In total, Ng has lost seven shoes: a pair of white sandals, a pair of black flip-flops, one red flip-flop, one black male flip-flop, and one black nursing Crocs-style shoe.
She noted the burglar has made off only with lightweight footwear; none of the running shoes they leave out have been touched.
Ng bears no ill will towards the furry felon, though she confesses she’s not a cat person.
In fact, she and her partner just got a pup — who she laughingly admits turns out to be “useless” at guard duty and seems to have slept through it all.
She would like her shoes back, though. Ng made up a flyer and shared it in her Hume Park neighbourhood, and she’d love to hear from anyone with information about the stealthy suspect.
If you happen to know the marauding mouser, or if your whiskered wanderer has been returning home with unexplained gifts of footwear, Ng would love to hear from you.
You can text Carol at 604-889-3162.
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
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