Casual and bold theft of 22-year-old cat is shocking

NEWS AND COMMENT-BOX HILL, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: The home owner's security camera captured the entire event: a young woman walking by the front of the house and taking their cat. 

The video gives me the impression that she is walking to a set destination rather than out for a stroll. It's on a busy road. The cat is in the driveway looking out towards the road. The woman turns to look at the cat (whose name is Bob) and tries to pet him but he backs off. She tries again and he accepts. 

She then casually picks him up and walks off. The video quality is quite good and, therefore, I would expect the police to be able to identify the woman. This should be a slam dunk prosecution if the police are on the ball. Although it is hard to get the police interested in pet thefts. They are investigating apparently.

Bob's owners are of course distraught because they've lived with their cat for a very long time. The age of this cat is exceptional. Very few domestic cats live to 22-years-of-age. He's a tabby-and-white and described as friendly and courageous. The owner of the cat is Giuseppina Roberts. The captioning on the video is incorrect. You will notice that.

Casual theft of 22-year-old cat from driveway. Screenshot.

The woman simply wants her cat back. She is not bothered if the thief is prostituted or not. She is asking for the thief to bring her cat back and if she does it will be her Christmas present. She is a very controlled and sensible woman but I am sure that she is very distressed. 

Bob was taken in a week ago. She believes that he is already dead. He's blind in one eye and has one paw missing. And of course is very old. It is possible that he could already be dead but of course it depends entirely on how good the thief is in looking after domestic cats.

The outstanding feature of this new story is the blatant, callous, bold and reckless way that this young woman steals Bob. I hope she's caught quickly.

A quick update on Christmas day 2021. This 22-year-old cat has been reunited with their owner. The cat was handed into a shelter. It looks as though the story got back to the woman who stole the cat and she decided to give the cat up wisely. The interesting aspect of the story is that there was an opportunity to arrest her for theft when she gave up the cat at the shelter. Perhaps somebody else did it for her. Anyway the good news is cat and owner are reunited which is a great Christmas present for Giuseppina Roberts.