Elmo the cat's garden glove collection amuses owner

A cat owner has been left scratching her head by her moggy's penchant for collecting garden gloves.

Vikki Maddocks said Elmo had brought home at least 14 gloves from neighbouring gardens in Belper, Derbyshire, over the past year.

She said the three-year-old usually brought home one glove and went back to fetch the matching hand later.

Mrs Maddocks has been trying to reunite the gloves with their owners through a community Facebook page.

"He meows really loudly when he comes in with them in his mouth," she said.

"He drops them at my feet and looks at me, really proud."

Following her Facebook appeal, one neighbour spotted their gloves but said Elmo was welcome to keep them for his collection.

Trudi Atkinson, a cat behaviour expert from Wiltshire, said Elmo was most likely bringing the gloves home as "items of prey".

She said this could have been a result of his mother teaching him to hunt using replacement items if real prey was unavailable.

The trend could have been further reinforced, she said, if Elmo was intentionally or unintentionally rewarded by his owners when he first started bringing gloves in.

Ms Atkinson added it was not unusual for cats to hunt down non-prey items but it was less common for a cat to be quite so specific in what it brought back.

Elmo is not the only feline glove lover. Bella, a female cat from Prestwich, Manchester, also received attention for her glove-stealing ways last year.

The same year another cat from Ipswich, Theo, brought home £25.70 in cash left out for the milkman by a neighbour. Theo had previous form for this type of "crime".

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