I stole my neighbour’s cat... but don’t you dare call me a criminal!
As a new law aims to make it a serious offence to pinch a pet...
It was a moment of mad recklessness. I took one look around me, picked up my former neighbours’ cat, slipped him under a blanket on the back seat of my car and drove off.
It was exhilarating. and, at the time, I knew I was doing the right thing. But as I sped away, I felt a nagging sense of guilt.
Had I just committed a dreadful crime? was I now a thief on the run from the law?
I could well have been, under the new Pet abduction Bill, which had its second reading in the House of Commons in January.
and I could have got up to five years in prison for my actions. Because if and when the Bill becomes law, the theft of cats or dogs will be treated as serious and specific crimes, rather than simply the taking of property as it stands today.
But before you lump me in with the increasing number of heartless criminals stealing pedigree pets for financial gain, allow me to explain.
the story begins in 2005, when I was living in a ground-floor flat in Blackheath, south-East London, with direct access to a vast garden.
One morning, I heard a sharp rap on my patio window and presumed it was my friend steve who came round for coffee most mornings.
But I looked up to see my american neighbour instead — glaring at me. though I went out to ask him what was the matter, I already had a fairly good idea.
It was about his cat Drexl, named after a Gary Oldman character in the Quentin tarantino film true Romance. Drexl had been visiting me most days for about a year and a half, finding his way in through an old cat flap. Of late, he had been popping home for his dinner, then coming back to me and even sleeping over.
THE main reason Drexl — a black and white domestic shorthair — liked being with me was because he was terrified of two husky dogs his legal owners had recently taken in. whenever he heard them bark, he ran under my bed.
I tried to explain to my neighbour — let’s call him Guy — that I had done nothing to encourage Drexl. I’d never fed or even called him. He just kept turning up. after all, cats are sentient creatures who, with their independent spirit, can never truly be ‘owned’.
But Guy was having none of it: ‘You’ve stolen him. You are a thief, Lynne. Do you walk into someone’s house and take their DVD player? Or take their car from their front drive? It’s the same thing.’
I was shocked, offended and, above all, scared by the tall, 40-something man on my patio, whose voice was shaking with anger. as Guy walked away, he told me he was moving house — and he’d be taking Drexl with him.
the news left me heartbroken. Perhaps I hadn’t wanted to admit it because he wasn’t ‘mine’, but I loved Drexl.
and, in all truthfulness, I hadn’t exactly discouraged him from his little visits. some months before, Guy had asked me to shut my cat flap at night to stop Drexl getting in. after all, I had no pets of my own. I told him I’d think about it. But really, I knew I couldn’t. I wanted Drexl to have somewhere to escape if the big dogs scared him.
the fast-approaching prospect that I would never see him again was too much to bear.
But a couple of weeks after my run-in with Guy, removal vans did arrive and by lunchtime that day, the family was gone — along with two loud, boisterous huskies and one adorable, yet unhappy, moggy.
as time wore on, I missed Drexl more than I could have imagined. He had become part of my life.
then, a miracle happened. a week after Guy and his family had moved out, I was woken at night by the cat flap opening — I knew that could only mean one thing. My boy was back!
He was a bit thinner and filthy dirty. No wonder — the family had moved five miles away and the only route back to me involved crossing a motorway.
the next morning Guy arrived to take Drexl home. But over the coming days, the same charade played out. Each time he came to collect the cat, Guy insisted Drexl was happy in his home.
around this time, I also moved house. I knew I wouldn’t see Drexl again, but I was grateful for the time we had spent together. He’s a brave, resourceful cat, I told myself: he’ll pull through.
to secure the property, I had to close the internal wooden shutters, blocking the cat flap.
But a fortnight later I returned to collect some post. and who was waiting for me outside the patio door, looking utterly forlorn?
that was when I snapped. I couldn’t take it any longer. so I scooped Drexl up and we made our bid for freedom.
I’ve since heard from another former neighbour that Guy has returned to the area several times to look for Drexl.
I’ll leave you to judge whether or not I’m a criminal. But to my mind, the thought that I might be prosecuted for this act fills me with indignation and horror.
Don’t get me wrong, the theft of animals from loving homes — motivated by financial gain — is inexcusable.
In 2022, 2,160 dogs were reported stolen, according to Direct Line Pet Insurance, with only one in four returned to their owners.
Cat theft has been rising by an average 18 per cent each year since 2017, with 1,300 cases reported in the past five years, according to police records.
Off the back of these numbers, Conservative MP anna Firth called for a change in the law, the result of which is the Pet abduction Bill.
Under the theft act of 1968, pets are currently treated as property and punishments are linked to the ‘monetary value’ of the animal stolen. In other words, the law takes no account of the strong emotional bond between pet owners and their animals, and the immense sense of loss when they are gone.
For millions of us, pets are infinitely more than property — they are part of the family. the new Bill recognises this and has to be seen as a good thing. However, the proposed legislation is opaque when it comes to cats, whose lives are, of course, peripatetic.
AND so, I’m relieved to hear that, according to anna Firth, I’m likely in the clear: ‘ If someone had a reasonable excuse such as “the cat just came into my home”, the police wouldn’t prosecute,’ said the MP.
‘ there is no intention to criminalise people who have good intentions.’
However, animal behaviour expert Dr anne McBride, of southampton University, is still unsure whether, when it comes to pets, one Bill fits all.
‘Issues of luring and detaining are straightforward for dogs, but cats cannot be captured and detained in the same way,’ she explained. ‘Dogs need to be part of a social group, but cats are more based on location than an attachment to an individual person.’
the RSPCA shares Dr McBride’s reservations, though broadly welcomes the Bill: ‘we understand that, as cats naturally roam, there can be a real difficulty in ascertaining whether a cat is a genuine stray or if they are owned,’ a spokesman said.
‘It is important to find out if the cat already has a loving owner before feeding or attempting to adopt the cat.’
My beautiful, loving and resilient Drexl died in 2016 aged 14.
I was bereft and I still think of my darling boy to this day. But it brings a wistful smile to my face to remember that for nine happy years he enjoyed a home with me where he felt safe and loved.
am I a thief, a criminal? It’s too early to tell how this new Bill might treat someone who finds themselves in my situation, but let’s just say, I don’t regret taking him one bit.