Watch: Bad Weasel Caught Stealing Shoes From Kindergarten In Japan
Three cameras were installed at the school in Fukuoka Prefecture. The footage showed the small animal entering the kindergarten and making way with a shoe in its mouth.
Deputy Police Chief Hiroaki Inada shared his relief with The Associated Press, saying, βIt’s great that it turned out not to be human.β There were concerns among teachers and parents that a person with an unusual shoe fetish was responsible for the shoes disappearing.
Police video shows a weasel stealing children’s shoes ????
β Jennifer Koning (@jenapradio) November 22, 2024
In Japan, it is customary to remove shoes before entering a home, and the missing items were all slip-on shoes worn indoors by children. These shoes were stored in cubbies near the door.
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Weasels are known for hoarding objects, and people who keep them as pets often provide toys for this behavior. The cunning creature took fifteen shoes before the police were alerted. The next day six more were captured. The weasel appeared again on November 12 and stole another shoe, when he was caught on camera.
Interestingly enough, the weasel only targeted the white canvas shoes, probably because they were easier to wear.
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“We were so relieved,” Yoshihide Saito, director of Gosho Kodomo-en kindergarten, told Japanese broadcaster RKB Mainichi Broadcasting. The children thought it was hilarious when they saw the images of the weasel in action.
Although the stolen shoes were never recovered, the remaining shoes are now protected with netting over the stalls. The weasel, believed to be wild, remains at large.
(Edited by: Jeroen Antonius)
