Burnaby resident Louise Leblanc is absolutely certain she is the rightful owner of the gloves stolen by Sienna, the "cat burglar."
Leblanc lives directly across the street from Dawn Palmer, owner of Sienna the cat, who has stolen more than 50 gloves in recent months. The NOW first reported on Sienna's glove-stealing habit on Wednesday, and several media outlets also covered the story. Sienna's owners did not know where the gloves were coming from.
Leblanc first learned of the thieving cat while watching Global TV Thursday night.
"I recognized the gloves immediately. The landscaper actually sent a comment saying those gloves belong to London Landscapes, the company doing the landscaping in my yard," she said. "We recognize them because we picked them out."
According to Leblanc, she and her husband bought the landscapers several different types of gloves to try out while working on their property.
"We were wondering why they were disappearing," she said. "It was crazy."
Leblanc also thinks the cat took one of her gardening gloves and a yellow dishwashing glove.
She initially thought a raccoon was the culprit, because one day, she noticed a coat she had hung up the night before was lying in the middle of her garden.
The couple has cameras on their property, so Leblanc reviewed the footage and saw what appeared to be a raccoon struggling to drag the raincoat away.
"It looked like this raccoon was trying to haul a raincoat and gave up and took off," she said. "That cat is big. We thought it was a raccoon."
The Leblancs were recently featured in the NOW because two large stone pillars they installed on their front lawn have drawn ire from the City of Burnaby and some of the neighbours. Leblanc suspects this is why Palmer never approached her to see if she was the owners of the gloves.
"I think (that's) the reason they didn't want to come and talk to us," Leblanc said.
Neighbourly tension aside, Leblanc thinks the story of Sienna the cat burglar is rather amusing.
"I think it's hilarious that the cat only took gloves, but I think it's rather silly that they didn't put two and two together," she said.
Leblanc now wants her gloves back.
"It was a pretty expensive selection of gloves," she said. "If we get the gloves back, that's all that matters."
Leblanc said the pillars have since been moved at the city's request.
Palmer told the NOW she thought about the neighbours, but that the numbers just didn’t add up.
“I did think at first that maybe it was the landscapers across the road,” Palmer said. “But I thought there’s too many of them. There were only two guys and we’ve got like 60 gloves.”
Palmer is more than happy to return the gloves to their owners.
“Of course, I’m going to return them from her if they are her gloves,” she said. “I’m happy to do that.”
