The Guardian ·
Catnapped bodega cat in Brooklyn reunited with owner after intense grassroots campaign
Three-month-old Jabal was returned to Park Slope bodega after community rallied to rescue purloined kitty
The owner of a New York City bodega on Tuesday was reunited with the store’s cat after a couple passing by the establishment five days earlier appeared to abduct the feline in plain view of a surveillance camera and ignited an intense grassroots search effort.
The plight of three-month-old Jabal began on Thursday morning in Brooklyn, when he went just outside the Eighth Street Mini Market where he lives as it opened for the day. A man walking alongside a woman passed the Park Slope market then picked up Jabal, and the pair took off as the kitten visibly squirmed, according to store surveillance video which the bodega’s owner, Imad “Jimmy” Innab, reviewed after he noticed the cat had gone missing.
Dan Janzen, who lives across the street from the Eighth Street Mini Market and is one of its regular customers, said someone immediately ran after the couple and told them the kitten belonged to the bodega – but they were unmoved, stuffed Jabal into a bag and left with him anyway.
