Meet the feline felon: Disturbing criminal history of cat named Keith who is terrorising a town and has even brought home a bong and a bag of white powder
- Keith the cat is responsible for a string of thefts in a suburb of Christchurch
- The five-year-old black cat has stolen, shoes, clothes, underwear and live eels
- He brought home a bong & zip-lock bag of white powder to his horrified owners
- Owners Ginny & David leave a box of the stolen items at the front of their home
A kleptomaniac cat with a hefty criminal history has been terrorising a New Zealand neighbourhood by committing a string of burglaries.
Keith, a five-year-old black cat, has been snatching items from a quiet suburban street in Christchurch for the past three years.
A corrections officer’s shirt, black laced panties, bras, shoes and live eels are among some of the stolen goods owners Ginny and David Rumbold have woken up to.
His offending has been spiralling in recent weeks with the feline bringing home a bong and a zip-lock bag containing white powder.
Keith, a five-year-old black cat, (pictured) has been stealing from neighbours in Christchurch for the last three years
Keith has even terrorised a local tradie, who resorted to weighing down his steel-toed boots with 2.5kilogram weights to no avail.
Horrified by his latest haul, Ginny and David are at a loss on how to put a stop to his thieving after his crimes caught the attention of local police.
‘We’ve been playing a bit of cat and mouse with this prolific offender,’ a police spokesperson told Stuff.
‘Of particular concern is Keith’s latest find – an implement used to smoke cannabis. We’ll be seizing the implement and speaking to Keith about where he’s acquired it from.’
Keith brazenly enters homes through windows and cat doors in the dead of the night nicking anything he can get his paws on.
Owners Ginny (pictured) and David Rumbold leave containers of Keith’s stolen goods at the front of their property for neighbours to collect their items
‘Keith’s got a thing about shoes, he loves shoes, labelled shoes – Nike or Adidas…ladies swimsuits, gloves,’ Ginny told Stuff.
Some nights Keith can bring home up to six items, sometimes his haul is so big he can’t get it through the cat door, so he dumps it on the deck or the driveway.
‘I suggested to him diamonds and cash would be better, but that hasn’t happened so far,’ she said.
His desperate owners have recently tried imposing home detention on Keith who stripped their Christmas tree bare and scattered baubles across the house.
Two containers of Keith’s loot sit at the front of their their Hoon Hay property alongside an apology letter to neighbours who come to reclaim their items.
Fortunately there is no bad blood between neighbours who find the infamous cat’s antics amusing.
After researching Keith’s behaviour, Ginny speculates he may have some Burmese genes – a breed that can become bored very quickly and seek out mischief when there is no one to play with.
They are also know as the ‘dog cat’ based on their exceptional ability to retrieve items and are so intelligent they can work out how to open doors, according to Purina Australia.
‘He’s just got the cheek of old Joe,’ says Ginny.
Advertisement
