The cat-astrophe has ended.
A beloved Park Slope bodega cat was reunited with his devoted owner Tuesday, just days after the feline was plucked off a Brooklyn street by a pair of accused cruel hipsters.
Cops brought little Jabal to the 8th St. Mini Mart in the well-heeled Brooklyn neighborhood in the morning after one of the people accused of taking him turned him over to them — ending an intense neighborhood manhunt dedicated to returning the 3-month-old cat home.
“They put the bag there and opened the zipper,” said Jabal’s overjoyed owner, Imad “Jimmy” Innab, to The Post, referring to the officers who returned the kitty to him.
“He saw me and just jumped! He knows that I am the owner of him. I am his dad.
“I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting. … I thank [the NYPD] and thank the community of neighbors and the 8th Street neighbors of Park Slope,” Innab said. “I thank them from my heart. This is too much for me.”
The emotional homecoming was thanks to dedicated neighbors who convinced the pair who took the cat to right their wrong — despite the man and woman initially refusing to give Jabal back when a local neighbor confronted them and warned they had taken someone’s pet rather than rescued a stray.
One of the pair, a pink-haired woman, apparently realized she needed to give Jabal back — whether from guilt or fear of punishment for crime — but didn’t feel comfortable returning the kitten herself.
Instead, she sent a middleman to bring Jabal to the 78th precinct on Tuesday, and police delivered the kitten back to Innab’s shop, neighbors said.
The man and woman had snatched Jabal onThursday after spotting him as they walked down 8th Avenue — with the man wasting no time plucking the kitten off the pavement, security footage from the incident shows.
Jabal seemingly makes an attempt to flee from the man’s grasp, but the man tightened his grasp on the kitten.
A witness told The Guardian that the couple brought the cat to Bushwick.
The incident ignited rage throughout the neighborhood — prompting a group of customers to take to the streets in search of the kitty and plaster missing posters throughout the neighborhood.
“Jimmy and his family are such a huge part of our neighborhood and our community, and he’s always been there for us through thick and thin. We all just support each other,” said Danielle Barnett, who made missing posters for Jabal and whose kids plastered them throughout the area.
Jabal instantly became a “celebrity” since joining Innab’s family a month ago, Barnett said.
“Jimmy just loved that cat, so when he disappeared, it was just a horrible thing for everybody. And it was, everyone was, it was crazy outrage across the board in our neighborhood and everyone just pitched in to help,” Barnett said.
Innab has said he wouldn’t pursue the incident any further despite his brief heartbreak, which was especially painful considering Jabal was a new addition to his family after they lost 17-year-old cat, Victoria, just three months earlier.
It’s not clear if the couple that picked up the cat off the street faced any consequences with the NYPD.
While Innab rejoiced that the pair ultimately did the right thing by returning his kitten, he offered a warning to others who might think that picking any animal up off the street is a good idea.
“People make mistakes, but mistakes like that — you can’t mess with anybody, especially with the bodega cats, because they’re going to catch you,” Innab said. “You can’t just take anything that doesn’t belong to you. Just leave it. Leave it for their home.”
Read the full article here
