I can completely empathise with the guy who owns the female cat that was seen to be stolen on CCTV by an Uber Eats driver. He regarded his cat as his daughter because he didn’t have any children. He feels like his daughter has been kidnapped. I completely understand that feeling and obviously it is a terribly distressing feeling to have. And he’s not concerned about punishing the woman who stole her. He just wants his cat back to get back to normal. He wants his daughter back!
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I wrote an article about the massive increase in pet thefts in Australia and about a pet detective Anne-Marie who reported on this increase in stolen companion animals. The enquiries that she receives have increased tremendously and I’ve put it down to Covid because of the dramatic alteration to people’s lifestyles due to social distancing. Lockdowns and working from home encouraged thefts because of a surge in pet adoptions.
This theft is just another example of this trend. It’s an example of casual companion animal theft. It’s opportunistic and I’m sure that quite a lot of thefts are like this. The thief sees the opportunity and seizes it without compunction but they are taking a massive risk because of the number of security cameras around nowadays.
And it was a security camera which picked this up so she won’t get away with it. At the moment it’s an allegation. I have to say that just in case someone wants to sue me for defamation but when everything is on security camera video it’s good evidence isn’t it?
The cat’s name is Hog and the guy who is her caretaker is Patrick Lewis who lives in Los Angeles, California. The Uber Eats driver took the cat in front of his home. She put the cat inside a paper bag and put the bag in her car. Then she delivered the meal to Lewis’s neighbour. Pretty amazing that she delivered the meal after she stole the cat.
Hog is an indoor-outdoor cat and therefore neighbours know of her. They love her. They call her ‘the mayor’. Lewis can’t watch the video more than once. He has his receipt for the food and therefore I think he has all the evidence he needs to prove that this woman took his cat. He’s contacted Uber and they’ve confirmed that they’ve been contacted by him. They are working on the matter to “get the cat returned, stand ready to help in the police investigation, and to take the appropriate action against the delivery person.”
It is not that the thief might have believed that Hog was a stray cat because she wore a collar. And Patrick says she doesn’t even look like a stray cat. It seems that the thief knew exactly what she was doing but forgot one little detail: the presence of a security camera. I would hope and expect that he’s got his cat back by now. We never receive follow-up stories to find out what happened. It would be nice to know. I want this guy to get his cat back because I know how he feels.
NOTE: THIS IS A NEWS AND VIEWS STORY. I AM COMMENTING ON THE NEWS. IT WAS PROVIDED BY CB 2 VIA MSN.
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