Hong Kong’s feline-friendly bookshop appeals to ‘cat thief’ to return blind feline stolen from premises last week
A Chinese bookshop, popular among cat lovers because of the animals it houses, is appealing to a “cat thief” to return its four-year-old blind pet that it says was stolen last Thursday.
Sam Kee Book Co, a basement shop at King’s Centre in Fortress Hill, sells a wide range of local novels and second-hand books. But it is the bookstore’s cats that draw the attention of most visitors.
Store workers said that on Thursday one of those visitors made off with Fok Jai, a four-year-old male with a white underbelly and a short, yellow tail. The cat has a condition called amblyopia, or lazy eye, rendering it nearly blind.
“This is the first time someone has blatantly walked into our bookstore to take our cat,” said Happy Chan, who works at the store. “The last time we lost a cat was a couple years ago when someone took Hong Hong, who wandered out of the bookstore. But she was returned.”
Chan went on: “I just wish the cat thief would return Fok Jai. Fok Jai is always very quiet and never fights … He loves to sleep. Even though he is blind, he loves cuddling with people.”
According to Chan, who has reviewed the closed circuit television footage of the store, Fok Jai was taken by a man wearing a dark overcoat and face mask in the secondhand books area of the store at around 1.30pm on Thursday. The man allegedly put Fok Jai in his backpack and quickly disappeared.
Watch: CCTV footage of cat theft from Hong Kong bookshop
Chan, who has worked at the store for six years, said the owner, Caroline Chan, is a cat lover. Fok Jai is one of the 28 to 29 street cats she has adopted. Many of the cats have illnesses.
Leo Yeung Ho-ming, 36, a civil servant who had visited the store for several years to see both the books and the cats, said: “I feel sad when I learned Fok Jai was stolen. Why steal him? He was in the bookstore doing fine. I don’t know why someone would steal him.
“If you want a cat, you can adopt one from the SPCA. I just wish the person who stole Fok Jai would return him to the book store as soon as possible.”
Jose Lam, 50, owner of Good Copy Printing Company, which operates opposite of Sam Kee Book Co., said: “There are always cat fans visiting the bookstore to take photos of the cats. The cats wandered back and forth in this basement. People love playing with the cats.”
