A Poconos man allegedly stole a geriatric bobcat
Alleged cat burglar facing theft, animal cruelty, and lewdness charges.
Blanche might be a golden girl and riddled with arthritis, but she’s still a bobcat with claws and fangs.
That didn’t stop a Bushkill, Monroe County, man from allegedly walking into the Pocono Snake and Animal Farm in East Stroudsburg Friday morning, grabbing Blanche, a North American bobcat, from her indoor cage and leaving a $50 bill behind. The suspected cat burglar, Semyon Levit, struggled with the feline in the parking lot, police said, before he stuffed her in the trunk of his Hyundai.
“I don’t want to kill you,” Levit said, according to surveillance footage. “Get in the trunk.”
Blanche is 22 and on various medications to treat her arthritis.
“She really didn’t give him a hard time,” said Jon Lowris, the animal farm’s manager. “If this were five years ago, he probably wouldn’t have gotten her out the door. I mean, she still has claws.”
Blanche was born and raised in captivity, Lowris said. And in cat years, she’s about 75 years old.
“She’s extremely elderly,” he said.
Levit, 45, was arrested during a traffic stop hours later in the Poconos, police said. Blanche was still in the trunk. Levit faces numerous charges, including theft, burglary, animal cruelty, and open lewdness. He remains in the Monroe County jail on $15,000 bail.
Levit, according to social media accounts, appears to be an amateur musician.
Lowris said his staff found patches of Blanche’s hair and part of the sheath that covers her claws in the parking lot after the theft. He said Blanche was seen by veterinarians and spent the weekend resting.
“She’s been doing well,” he said. “You could tell the first day that she was not herself, but the keeper was able to brush her the next day.”
Lowris said the petting zoo is closed to guests for the season, but Levit entered through a garage door that was mistakenly left open. Police did not tell Lowris why Levit allegedly stole the bobcat.