Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / July 2006

http://www.newsone.ca/ottawarecorder/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=204908
Feline felon suspected in glove thefts
Staff and agencies
23 July, 2006

By JIM FITZGERALD, Associated Press Writer Thu Jul 20, 10:57 PM ET

PELHAM, N.Y. - A pink-and-white gardening glove was missing Thursday
morning from Jeannine Goche's front porch. But there was absolutely
no mystery about who had taken it. Willy, the cat who loves gloves, had
struck again.

As if the gardeners of Pelham don't have enough to worry about, with
the rocky soil and the slugs and the big trees casting too much shade,
a feline felon has been sneaking into their back yards and carrying off
gardening gloves.

Above the line is a sign that says, in words and pictures, "Our cat is
a glove snatcher. Please take these if yours."

"This all started about the time people began working in their gardens,
I guess March or April," Jennifer Pifer said. "Willy would just show up
with a glove, or we'd see them on the front steps. I guess it's
better than if he was bringing home dead birds."

"Jennifer was telling me all about how Willy was bringing home all
these gloves, and there was a small pile of them outside the door, and
then here comes the cat with a glove in its mouth, proud as could be,
like he was giving me a gift."

"A lot of these looked brand new," said Pifer. "Some of them are really
nice."

Willy, born to a stray last spring and taken in by the Pifers as a
newborn, stays out some nights but seems to assemble his collection in
daytime raids.

John Cassone, who lives and gardens across the street, said he isn't
missing any gloves. He uses "the big, heavy leather kind" and figures
Willy, a wiry type, isn't strong enough to drag them away.

Willy couldn't care less about the gloves after they're captured.
On Thursday he could not be enticed into a grab-the-glove game.

"We find them in the hallway, on the stairs," she said. "I used to
think,

Oh, I must have dropped it on the way down.' But now I know better."

Despite his criminal nature, neighbors get a kick out of Willy. Cassone
said the cat likes to accompany the mailman up and down the block, all
the way to each front door. Willy also likes to climb trees and bat at
the heads of people below.

Since Pifer grows flowers and vegetables and herbs herself, isn't she
tempted to make use of the endless supply of garden gloves that arrive
at her doorstep free, shipping included?

"No," she said, a bit sadly. "I do a lot of gardening but I don't use
gloves."

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.