An East Hamilton resident claims her cat was abducted by a pizza delivery driver and then left to fend for itself about 10 kilometres away from her home.
Home security surveillance cameras captured the delivery man appearing to chase the family cat around the porch.
“He delivered the pizza, and then went out of his way to put the pizza bag back in the car and then come up and scoop our cat,” Rebecca Belforte told Global News.
Belforte says hours after the pizza was delivered around 5:54 p.m. is when the search for Dwight the cat began.
Belforte and her husband, Carlo, started to worry when they noticed Dwight was missing while they were eating dinner.
“So at some point, the little guy slipped through our feet when we were either fixing a lock or getting the pizza,” said Belforte. “If we’re eating pizza, he’s right there because he wants some. So, we noticed he wasn’t around.”
The couple shook a bag of cat treats to try and find Dwight but eventually gave up the search until morning with the assumption that he maybe ran off.
“We checked outside in the morning to see if maybe he had just been, like, fooling around chasing some squirrels or something silly,” she said.
When the couple got the idea to check their home surveillance recordings, they were shocked to see the pizza delivery man trying to catch their cat on the porch.
“He had our cat in his hands and he was going to his car with our cat,” Belforte said. “He has to actually reposition the cat and hold him far away from his body because of cat fighting, trying to get away.”
Since being notified of the circumstances, the pizza restaurant the driver was working for has been co-operative with the couple, according to Belforte. The restaurant has even helped connect the couple to the driver.
The driver reportedly told the Belfortes that the cat was left in the Gordon Drummond Avenue and Kennard Street area, which is about a 12 minute drive away from the couple’s Rosedale address.
“He showed my husband a picture of our cat in his back seat,” Belforte recalled. “He showed my husband … a text message that he sent to a roommate, saying, ‘Hey, I’ve got a cat.’”
Hamilton police have since filed a report on the incident and advised that the family to discontinue communications with the driver. The couple has reached support on social media in search of Dwight.
“He is the most friendly cat in the world. He’s so sweet,” said Belforte. “He’s happy to meow and rub up against you.”
The Belfortes’ cat was adopted over 12 years ago when he showed up at their home one day.
Dwight is described as a solid grey, declawed cat with a small white spot on his nose and dark stripes on his tail.
Rebecca Belforte can be reached directly at 905-730-4159 by anyone with information on the matter.
