SHE’S ‘CAT’ IN THE ACT
Video is clue in shocking bodega kitty theft
Brooklyn bodega owner Mir Kasham had a mouse problem in his Church Avenue store, so he got a kitten.
That created a cat burglar problem.
Police are now on the prowl for a callous kit-napper who walked off with Kasham’s beloved 3-month-old, Takela, on the night of Sept. 3.
The caper began at about 8 p.m., when a young man walked into the Moon Mini Mart in Kensington, bought some cookies and started playing with the feline.
Bizarrely, he then offered Kasham $50 for the silvery gray furball.
Kasham told the pushy patron Takela was not for sale, noting that city animal shelters are filled with cuddly cats needing a home.
Kasham even offered to find the stranger, who said he was from Queens, another kitty.
“He said, ‘I like the cat. I’ll be back,’ ” Kasham told The Post.
About two hours later, a thin young woman wearing black framed glasses walked in the store and began strolling the aisles.
She is captured on surveillance footage coolly picking up Takela, tucking the kitten under her arm, and covering her with a coat before walking off with it. “What kind of person takes a little cat?” a heartbroken Kasham told The Post. “Takela is like a family member.” Kasham suspects the man and woman were in cahoots. Angel Nieves, a retired NYPD detective who does pet investigations, theorized that the kit-napper might be a self-appointed animal “rescuer.”
“There is a stereotype that storekeepers don’t feed the cats so the cats will kill the mice and rats. [The thief] probably believes the cat isn’t being fed,” Nieves told The Post. But Takela is well loved. The storekeeper said his customers and 14-year-old son, Aaquil, are “crushed” by the theft, which was first reported by The Brooklyn Paper.
“Please bring it back. Everyone misses Takela!” said Kasham, who filed a report with 66th Precinct police.