Cat statue stolen from outside Kelowna couple's home

A Kelowna, B.C. couple woke up Friday morning and noticed something wasn't quite right outside their home — a large Egyptian cat statue they hauled around the world for 20 years was missing.

"I was pretty sad and very disappointed. It's been like a guardian to our home for the last 20 plus years," said Jeanette Hoft, who moved to the Okanagan in 2008 with her husband from Namibia.

"I'm hoping that it's a prank or something like that, not a very nice prank at this stage, but I really hope we will have it returned to our house."

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The concrete cat statue is two metres tall and weighs about 150 lbs. Hoft says it only costs about $1,000, but carries a lot of sentimental value. 

"It is such a noticeable cat. It is very unique, you won't find anything like that in Canada."

Hoft has been using social media to get the word out as well as well as canvassing the neighbourhood with flyers and notifying the police.

"If anybody does know anything about it, we won't press charges. We would really just to have it back," said Hoft.

To hear the full interview with Jeanette Hoft, listen to the audio labelled Stolen cat statue.