back to article Foot-loving cat burglar nicks THREE THOUSAND individual socks

A real life cat burglar has been implicated in the theft of up to 3,000 individual socks – and a full set of women's underwear. Oscar, a Mandalay cat, has spent the past few years stealing at least one sock a day from clotheslines around Herne Bay, a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. According to Paul Wai-Poi, the cat's owner …

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  1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

    Hah

    Better than demolishing the local wildlife I suppose.

    1. Breen Whitman

      Re: Hah

      Thats a myth. A new study shows its reducing vegetation quality especially around town/city belts thats reducing bird and wild life. Add to that an increase in rats and ferrets that come from the citys.

      It has been found that if the pest population is reduced, and vegetation quality is restored, the birds come back in greater numbers, and the cat issue has not changed.

      1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

        Re: "A new study"

        Got a link to that study?

  2. Khaptain Silver badge

    Alternative title

    Purring panty purloining pussy pilleged peoples pedes protectors

    1. TheOtherHobbes

      Re: Alternative title

      Or... The Joy of Socks.

  3. Katie Saucey
    Happy

    Thank god

    For years I have had mismatched socks. I always blamed a gnome or elf (could not be my perfect hounds!) This gnome has been stalking me for years, 'You're crazy!' they all said. Now, I am vindicated and will sleep soundly for once.

    The following is the offenders profile I forwarded to the authorities:

    Step 1. Steal socks

    Step 2. Steal panties

    Step 3. ?????????

    Step 4. Profit

    They should have listened.

    1. ukgnome

      Re: Thank god

      I swear its not all gnomes.

  4. We're with Steve

    Arnold Layne had a strange hobby....

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Layne

  5. an it guy

    interesting

    but where's the it angle?

    okay. I know, it's bootnotes, but no veiled attempt to get anything IT into the story at all...

    1. Matt 21

      Re: interesting

      I work in IT and I ware socks and have got a cat.

      Incidentally my four year old daughter told me she thinks it was the cat who filled her toothpaste tube with water........... it seems the pesky creatures get up to all sorts.........

  6. James Hughes 1

    Easy fix

    Nuke the cat from orbit.

  7. Dave 62

    The smell of feet..

    "These cats love the smell of feet," she said. "So if I took my shoes off around the cats they would all come and roll in them and steal the shoes."

    But.. what does this say about the underwear?

    1. A Nother Handle
      Coat

      Re: But.. what does this say about the underwear?

      That cats like fish.

      1. Ted Treen
        Coffee/keyboard

        Re: But.. what does this say about the underwear?

        Another keyboard, please.

        My cat will be round to collect it shortly.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    cats and socks

    I had a white cat that slept in my daughter's sock drawer. My daughter had to wear white socks to school.

    From time to time, the cat, wailing throughout, would carry a pair of socks down through the house, out into the garden and bury them. We concluded she thought they were her kittens and she buried them as they 'died'.

    This was literally 'rinse and repeat'

    1. Vociferous

      Re: cats and socks

      That may well be, especially if she had lost a litter or miscarried -- they have very strong maternal instincts and sometimes when cats lose their kittens that instinct gets redirected. I've seen a cat who lost its kittens adopt a hamster.

  9. Pahhh

    Easy to defend against

    Facts given:

    - Cat stole socks from clotheslines

    - Cat likes the smell of feet, hence sock

    Answer surely is a better detergent.

    1. John Bailey

      Re: Easy to defend against

      Nah.. Answer is to replace washing line with electric fence.

  10. Dave Walker

    Living in my dryer!

    That explains everything....

  11. Frumious Bandersnatch

    I know it's the wrong species

    but I immediately thought of the Magnet Fields song "Fido, your leash is too long".

  12. Big-nosed Pengie

    I suppose that makes the cat a pedophile.

  13. John Tserkezis

    Since we're done blaming the dog:

    "Honey, how did your panties end up on the neighbour's doorstep?"

    "Er, the cat did it".

  14. proud2bgrumpy

    Like all cat owners, he takes no responsibility for his *pet* "duh! it's a cat what can I do?". Cats decimate the wildlife, sh1t where they like and seem to love clawing at the soft-top of my car, and now it seems feed their owners used underwear fetish ;-)

    It's no joke, my gravel drive is full of their little *packages*, cost me £400 for a soft top for my car, then another £150 for a car cover and I get left little *presents* of their victims (dead birds and mice on my doorstep) bl**dy cats, I'm sick of them - give me a dog any day. On top of that I'm allergic to the damn vermin - rashes, sneezing, asthma - the whole lot. I'm with that Dutch guy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTVOK2yvbBM

    1. Brenda McViking

      Right - I think you need a lesson in cat psychology, as it's obvious the local cats absolutely can't get enough of you.

      Rule 1: You can't train cats, cats train you. You cannot contain them, you cannot control their behaviour, and you have no influence over what they do. They are categorically the polar opposite of dogs. Your neighbours cat controls him, not the other way around. He can no more take responsibility of it than you can take responsibility of what the NSA looks at on your computer.

      Drive is gravel - well that's your second problem, cats are trained to do their business in kitty litter. Replace with lawn or tarmac.

      Car has soft top - oh yeah, cats are going to love clawing at them. Remedy is either to get a hard top (which I can't imagine you'd seriously entertain) or get something better than a fabric car roof for them to sharpen their claws on - scratching posts around your driveway, for instance.

      As for presents of mice and birds on your doorstep- well, that's just them saying "you're a really crap hunter, but I like your house and the awesome themepark outside it (your drive and car) so I don't want you to starve" (If you haven't noticed, cats are incredibily condescending and dismissive of your pathetic existance and actions.)

      You clearly don't like them, and they can tell, the smug little blighters, and they'll hang around just to annoy you - this is classic cat behaviour - ignore you if you pay them attention, and crave your attention if you show signs of not wanting anything to do with them. You firmly fall in the latter camp, and hence you'll be getting loads of attention.

      The easiest, and cheapest way of getting rid of your cat problem, would be to get yourself your own cat to guard your territory for you and chase the others off. Might have to be one of those hairless ones if allergies are your thing.

  15. Pedigree-Pete
    Coat

    Choice of words...

    POOR, but bloody funny.

    "The bra got hooked up on the fence and the next door neighbor saw it. I said: it's not my wife's.”

    Icon. Searching for my socks.

  16. Vociferous

    And all these years I've been blaming the tumbler.

    Come here, kitty. We need to talk.

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