Bodega Kitten Stolen From Bed-Stuy Shop, Owners Say

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN -- A young bodega kitten was stolen from his Ralph Avenue home and one Bed-Stuy neighbor is determined to get him back.

Estefano Pilonieta, 28, is on a quest to find the playful kitten who was taken from Natural Valley Market on Ralph Avenue and MacDonough Street some time within the last two weeks, he said.

"The mom is out there without her kitten, I'm sure she really misses him," said Pilonieta. "What [the bodega kitten thief] did was wrong. Give it up."

Video surveillance footage shows someone picking up the kitten outside the shop and walking away, store employees told Pilonieta. A bodega worker named Nasin, who answered the phone Monday morning, confirmed to Patch the kitten had been taken.

Pilonieta said he's become "a big fan" of the lost kitten since it appeared in the shop a few weeks ago.

The owners left toys for the kitten to play with in the aisle, and even installed a kitten door for him, he said.

"He was so young, he lived there with his mom, and was really playful," Pilonieta said. "He was always attacking my laces, climbing up on the potato basket. That gives you a glimpse of how adorable he was."

So Pilonieta has sprung into action, much like the kitten in the presence of his shoelaces.

The Bed-Stuy resident has posted pleas that the cat be returned across social media and plans to paper the neighborhood with flyers before Election Day on Tuesday.

Pilonieta doesn't want to shame the person who took the kitten, he just wants that person to bring the kitten back.

"As much as we all wanted to take him home, we know that it's not our cat," said Pilonieta. "Yes, he's cute, but he's also theirs."

Pilonieta also reported some some questionable symptoms of the kitten's mother's despair.

"She was crying, she wrote a poem," he said. "She wrote a sonnet."

Photos courtesy of Estefano Pilonieta