'We have been let down': 2 kittens allegedly stolen from pumpkin patch in Langley
The owners of a pumpkin patch in Langley are disappointed after a pair of seven-week-old kittens were reportedly stolen from their property.
Katie Brownlee, the operations manager at Aldor Acres Family Farm says one of the kittens was taken on Tuesday and the other one vanished last week.
“We have been let down. We feel disappointed, disrespected and hurt,” Brownlee told CTV News Vancouver in a phone interview.
Brownlee says her grandparents Albert and Dorothy, who have been running the farm for 33 years have built their business on “trust and respect.”
“It very much infuriated them,” says Brownlee. “To have someone come into our home and take a family member, they are our pets. They are our family.”
Browlee says the kittens were in secure enclosures and they were taken in the middle of the day.
“It happened during the day when there was lots of people around, so it’s not like a coyote could have gotten to them," she says.
She says Aldor Acres Family Farm prides itself on allowing visitors to interact with the animals, by getting to pet them and hold them. It’s something they now believe needs to be changed.
“There’s so much learning opportunity in having hands-on experience with animals,” Brownlee added. “People now won’t be able to freely hold our kittens, puppies or bunnies without a staff member present and we don’t have enough staff to stand at every pen, so parents won’t be able to have that same experience with their kids anymore.”
The kittens, which were from two different litters, also had their forever homes lined up.
“They were adopted out and were supposed to go to their homes this weekend,” Brownlee says.
Brownlee adds that while she hasn’t yet reported the incidents to BC SPCA or police, she hopes whoever took the kittens will be held accountable “in their own way.”
“I hope they know what they did wasn’t right,” she says. “It’s a disappointment not only for us but everyone else that comes here for that hands-on experience with animals.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.