Cat poaches eggs in time for breakfast

BRETT MEAD

TRICKY TOM: Charlie the egg stealer with owner Cheryl Amor, who says: "The neighbour's got about five cats of his own so I'm sure he wouldn't hurt Charlie but I'm taking the eggs back.''

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Charlie the cat burglar used to be a killer, but poaching eggs is fast proving his favourite crime.

For close to a fortnight, Gisborne couple Frank and Cheryl Amor have woken up to find fresh chicken eggs on their back doorstep – carried there by their burmese cat.

The appearance of the eggs, laid by a neighbour's free-range hens, which Charlie ignored, was "a real mystery" for the first few days, Mrs Amor said. It was not until one night that she realised Charlie was the egg bearer.

"I was standing in the kitchen and I saw Charlie. He looked up at me, put his head down and this egg rolled out of his mouth."

Since then, they have been trying to catch him in the act, but he was "a secretive bugger", Mr Amor said.

The couple think he carries out his raids in the early morning, bringing back his haul just in time for breakfast. "We must be up to about a dozen now," Mrs Amor said.

Charlie's latest "gifts" were more appetising than the motley collection of dead rats and birds he usually brought home, but Mrs Amor was keen to curb the egg habit in case their neighbour took exception to his petty larceny.

"The neighbour's got about five cats of his own so I'm sure he wouldn't hurt Charlie – but I'm taking the eggs back."

Karori vet Glenn Armstrong said it was possible that a cat could carry an egg in its mouth: "On the pointy end, it could get its teeth around that."

Burmese cat breeder Adena Middleton agreed. "Burmese are really hard-case like that."

- © Fairfax NZ News