Stig the cat burglar’s crime spree
Timaru’s most notorious cat burglar has outsmarted its cat flap to resume its crime spree in lockdown.
Stig, a sticky-pawed two-year-old Norwegian Forest cat, was meant to be staying under lock and key while New Zealand was in lockdown — but about two weeks ago the cat staged a jailbreak.
‘‘I locked the cat flap, so he could come in but not go out. It took him no time at all to work a way around it,’’ owner Lisa Peckitt said.
‘‘Usually they open it by pressing it with their nose.
‘‘He’s worked out how to open it backwards by pulling the flap towards him and going through.
‘‘It started with his pawing it like he was digging, then he would stick a claw under the edge and you would hear ‘bang, bang, bang’.
‘‘One day he wasn’t anywhere, so I looked out into the yard, and he was staring back at me.’’
Peckitt said during Stig’s first week back on the prowl the feline had been pinching the odd item, but ramped up escapades in week two by progressively stealing a whole wardrobe of baby clothes.
She put out the call on social media on Sunday to find the baby in question and on Monday was able to return the clothes to a little girl named Maggie.
‘‘I laundered everything and folded it and took it back,’’ she said.
‘‘They just thought it was really funny.
‘‘They sometimes see Stig in their garden.
‘‘Baby Maggie loves cats.’’
She said her followers were keen to see a photo with Stig and Maggie – a request she would be more than happy to fulfil once the country entered alert level two.
Peckitt did not believe Stig was at risk of spreading Covid-19.
‘‘I don’t think he’s getting into contact with people when he steals, so it’s unlikely they will be catching the virus from Stig.’’