Posted on 01/05/2017 8:34:42 PM PST by nickcarraway
Video shows one rodent waiting for coast to be all clear before pouncing on candy and scurrying away.
A group of squirrels is driving the owners of one Toronto convenience store nuts, after the rodents have been caught on video stealing chocolate bars from their east-end shop.
“I always see them sneaking outside the door, looking in my store, and even right at me!” said Paul Kim, owner of Luke’s Grocery near Gerrard St. E. and Logan Ave.
“They come in and take Crunchies, Crispy Crunch, Wonderbar . . . ”
And those who are really bold “try to take Mr. Big.”
He’s seen pesky thieves slink in every fall for the past nine years — since he’s owned the store — but 2016 showed a spike in the rodent robberies with one to two bandits visiting the Kim family daily.
“I think we’ve lost up to . . . 48-ish bars this fall season,” Kim’s daughter Cindy said. “That’s an extremely rough estimate, though, because we have no way of knowing when we’ve been robbed — they’re very sneaky.”
A Youtube video shows a squirrel caught red-handed stealing a chocolate bar from a east-end Toronto convenience store. A Youtube video shows a squirrel caught red-handed stealing a chocolate bar from a east-end Toronto convenience store. (YOUTUBE) With a sharp increase in chocolate robberies, Cindy set up a Reddit thread called “how to stop squirrels from stealing chocolate bars,” in hopes that the Internet could provide answers to stop the nutty activity.
She also used surveillance video from the store to catch the robbers in the act, which she later posted to Youtube.
“My wife and I don’t know how to upload these videos — but Cindy thought it would be funny to share online,” Paul Kim said.
Videos show the furry bandits — a light grey-brown one and a black one — inching tentatively into the store, grabbing a Kinder Bueno ($2) on one occasion, and a Crunchie bar ($1.80) the next time.
“We find them very, very cute . . . however, these squirrels have stolen considerably from us this fall . . . so . . . we’d like that to stop,” Cindy said.
The family has tried closing the door to prevent the thefts, but say that there are occasions while cleaning or re-stocking that the door needs to be left open for half an hour to an hour.
“(It’s) then, when the door is open and we’re not around for a moment, they sneak in. They’ve yet to fail,” Cindy said.
Customers and passersby have also tried chasing down the bandit, but when it resorts to climbing up a tree, “it’s game over,” she said.
Deserves a better look
That’s kinda funny but I would never do that to a poor squirrel.
Squirrel chasing is SERIOUS business at my house!
The price of chocolate is too damn high!
I had something happen to me two days ago that I wouldn’t dare tell anyone who actually knows me.
While biting down on some food during breakfast my 3-tooth bridge fell out (the 3 teeth are the very visible upper center). But since I was able to take a shower, I simply put it aside until I came out of the shower.
When I came out of the shower around 15 mins later the teeth were gone. What I’m sure happened is, a mouse took it and ran off somewhere with it. And I have so much friggin junk in the room that I may not ever find it, assuming the mouse didn’t go through some hole in the wall with it. Obviously he couldn’t have swallowed or eaten it. The little bastard probably just took it someplace and nibbled on it.
I don’t have dental coverage at this time, nor the money to buy a replacement. So, in the meantime, I guess I’ll just have to try very hard to not to smile or laugh while I’m around other people. Pretty GD embarrassing, yet, at the same time, pretty darn funny. Though it would be funnier if it were someone else!
able = about
This is in Toronto. If that happened in certain shops across the bridge from me, say in Oakland or Richmond, those cute little varmits would probably get shot by one of the customers. A lot of younger shoppers in corner stores like that one, will come in wearing their ear phones for the music, or texting on their iphones. They may be taken by surprise, then suddenly feel something furry and rat-like crawling quickly up their pants leg. ::BLAM!!::
Thanks for the grill, man..
Lol!! I thought the same thing myself!
Because just the day before he had climbed up on the bed, while I was in it!, stopped, starred at me for about two secs, then jumped off and ran away.
I kept seeing in my mind an image of him similar to what you posted: him looking up at me smiling...with my teeth in his mouth!
Squirrels don’t have nothing on seagulls when it comes to thievery.
What is “Mr Big”?
Chocolate bar.
What a dilemma. Aren’t we supposed to pray to St. Jude for return of lost/missing items?
It’ll turn up when you least expect it.
Squirrel = tree rat..............
I was in a drugstore one time when a squirrel came in. He was frantic, poor thing, he wanted out. The druggist was trying to shoo him toward the door and back outside. Finally the druggist and a couple police officers got him headed in the right direction and he ran out.
Seagulls are scavengers, but also happily kill smaller birds.
A way exists to get rid of the squirrels. However, posting it publicly will infuriate some. So, PM me and I’ll tell you how. No explosives, no dogs, no guns, no slingshots, shockers, etc. - no mess. Seriously.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.