Admiral Galacticat was satisfied with his comfortable home life before he encountered the outdoors. However, his abode began to seem a little cramped during the stay-at-home order in New Orleans.
Admiral was irritated that his mother, Heather Bardi, and brother were around all day. “His stubborn big brother’s shrieks and cries brutally disrupted Admiral’s calm sleeps no sooner than they began,” Bardi told The Dodo. “He was desperate to get away.”
He’d stand at the entrance, waiting for me to notice and try to sneak past my feet.”
Bardi bought a leash for Admiral and began to take him on walks around the yard until she felt comfortable letting him outside by himself.
Admiral was thrilled to finally be able to nap in peace and play with other neighborhood cats. “I think I was the one who needed to be eased into it and not Admiral,” Bardi said. “Now he lounges around out front and watches the cars drive by.”
Bardi then found a tank top and a pair of socks on her doorstep two weeks ago. She thought they had been dropped on her doorway by a drunk person, so she put them in the garbage. However, as more clean clothing appeared in her yard, she began to rethink her first hypothesis.
“Once more items started showing up, I thought to grab the shirt and sock out of the trash in case they are from a person playing a prank on me and I wanted all of the evidence together,” Bardi said.
Bardi set up a homemade surveillance camera to catch the perpetrator in the act. She attached an old cell phone to a post on her front porch and downloaded a recording app onto it. She discovered the burglar wasn’t a human at all when she studied the film the next day: it was her loving cat Admiral.
Bardi produced a cardboard notice and fastened it to the front of her house’s pole in the hopes of locating the individual who had taken the garments. “Dear Neighbors,” it read. My cat has been stealing and bringing home someone else’s clean laundry.
Socks, boxers, dishrags, and even a tank top are all included. If you’re lacking any of the aforementioned goods, I’ve been collecting them and have them inside. Please knock, and I’ll return them. Sorry, but my cat is a thief.”
When no one in the area claimed the stolen items, Bardi took to social media, first posting on NextDoor and then on a Facebook group for a local garage sale.
Bardi was finally traced to the owner of the stolen clothes by word of mouth. Admiral had been breaking into a common laundry room in an apartment and pilfering laundry from a number of different tenants, she learned through a neighbor.
“We all joked about it and how surprised we were that it had gotten so much attention,” Bardi recalled. “It was without a doubt the strangest way to meet the neighbors.”
Admiral continues to bring his mother “presents” every time he goes outside, despite the fact that his laundry collection has been restored to its original owners. “I had no idea my angel was also a petty thief until approximately two weeks ago.
“However, did your parents know everything there was to know about you?” Bardi said. “He still brings home more laundry to this day, but I’m not sure why I expected it to stop.” He seemed to like giving me gifts, or he is simply a mischievous 4-year-old.”
“I suppose I should have expected this,” she continued. “However, I could never have guessed the depths to which he went to obtain all of this haphazard laundry.”
