Stevenage cat burglar Tofu on a tidy-up mission, says his owner

BBC
·3 min read
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Tofu the cat
Young cat Tofu hasn't really taken to hunting prey but he enjoys bringing home "tat" to his owner [Jane Sweet]

A cat that keeps bringing random bits of rubbish and other items home through his cat flap is on a mission "to keep Britain clean", his owner said.

Tofu was taken in by Jane Sweet, from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, who found the stray kitten last September.

Since then, Tofu has been bringing home crisp packets, cardboard containers and even a roll of unused dog poo bags.

"I joked with friends that he was cleaning up Britain's streets, one piece of rubbish at a time," she said.

Miss Sweet set up a camera so she could watch Tofu and his adoptive sister, Sushi, coming and going.

While calico cat Sushi, aged six, proudly brings home mice, Miss Sweet said Tofu seemed more than pleased with the occasional worm, caterpillar or wet leaf he would drag through the cat flap.

But the youngster has since upped his game.

A crisp packet in a woman's hand
Nothing in here to snack on, sadly [Jane Sweet]

"The camera caught Tofu bringing me presents," she said.

Miss Sweet freely admitted her cat's "gifts" were "random bits of rubbish - it is tat, mainly".

A roll of dog poo bags
A roll of dog poo bags is a useful gift from a cat determined to clean up his local area [Jane Sweet]
A lamb bone
"I think it's a lamb shank bone," said Miss Sweet, after this Easter weekend gift arrived in her kitchen [Jane Sweet]
A food wrapper brought in by the cat
Old food wrappers are a favourite with Tofu [Jane Sweet]

The first random item he presented to his human mum was a filter tip from a cigarette.

"From there, I've had a bag of fish food pellets, a Nutella lid, a jam doughnut box, a lamb shank bone, crisp packets and dog poo bags. The list goes on," Miss Sweet said.

An old food wrapper
Another foodie find for the feline [Jane Sweet]

Why do cats do this?

Cat biologist and behaviourist Roger Tabor told the BBC that cats often brought home "trophies" - usually food scavenged from bins.

"The real cat burglars are those that regularly bring back an assortment of human-associated objects," he said.

"This could be because they were not taught by their mothers to catch live prey."

Miss Sweet said Sushi seemed "a bit confused when Tofu comes in with a treasure".

"She'll look at it, smell it, and then her face looks like she's saying, 'Like. really?'.

"I had assumed Tofu was finding all of his gifts from people's gardens or in the bushes.

"It wasn't until he brought home a bag of cat treats (that was more than half full) that I thought, actually, maybe he is entering people's homes.

"I felt the need to put a post on the local Facebook group for the town and apologise if he has been getting into someone's house and stealing things."

She added: "I was overwhelmed with people's comments on my post - it seems he has brought smiles to many people's faces and I hope they will continue to enjoy Tofu's weird and wonderful gifts."

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