A pet owner has been forced to hilariously shame her cat burglar feline, after she stole dozens of items from neighbours, including gloves, bathing suits and even a camera.
Kate Felmet, from Oregon in the United States, named and shamed three-year-old Esme by putting up a sign and lining out all the items stolen by the cheeky feline, so their owners could retrieve their belongings.
“My cat is a thief. Please take these items if they are yours," the 50-year-old wrote on a big sign, next to a washing line filled with stolen goods, but this isn't the first time she's been caught red-pawed.
“Esme’s thievery began last spring – she brought home 11 masks in one day. I was so delighted that she wasn’t bringing me birds and she got a lot of praise – and maybe a few treats for the gifts that weren’t recently alive," Kate, who works as a doctor, explained.
“She has a very distinctive meow when she’s brought me something and she comes in the back door and sits by it, and makes a lot of noise until I come tell her she’s done a good job."
However, Esme's penchant for face masks has recently developed into gloves, with the kitty bringing her owner several pairs a day, from unsuspecting neighbours.
“When the weather got nice and we all started working in the garden, she started bringing gloves. For three or four days she brought two pairs a day. She brings them separately but almost always goes back to get the second glove," Kate continued.
“Esme has now brought me several bathing suits, kneepads, rolls of tapes, packages of paint rollers and lengths of fabric."
However, the strangest items Esme has ever stolen are a camera from a neighbour's garage and a taxidermy bat, however Kate never quite found the latter.
Following her most recent thieving spree, Kate decided it would be more sensible to hang the items out for neighbours to retrieve themselves, since there were so many of them.
“I used to ask my neighbours one-by-one to return things but the gloves are a mystery. Since I put the sign up, people have come by and taken stuff," she said.
"I think I’ll have probably reunited 10 pairs of gloves with their owners through the sign – although there have been times when Esme steals the same gloves over and over.”
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