A CHEEKY fox brazenly pinched a pricey brand-new cycling shoes after a Brit left them out to dry on his front porch.
Jake Oppon left his winter shoes unattended outside his front door after an afternoon bike ride in Oxford on Saturday.
However, after his Northwave boots – which are priced from between £70 up to a whopping £200 – disappeared, he checked his CCTV footage only to find a most unlikely culprit.
Footage from a camera above the porch filmed on the evening of the shoe heist shows an opportunistic fox, clearly in the mood for thievery, sneakily approaching Jake’s door at around 6:15pm.
Cautiously approaching Jake’s drying shoes, the quizzical fox gives the footwear a sniff before suddenly snatching one of the boots in its jaws and hastily making its retreat as the motion-activated light on the porch comes on.
Getting a better grip on the shoe, the fox makes off quickly across Jake’s driveway and disappears behind his car.
Almost unbelievably, later the same night just after 8pm a fox reappears in the footage, walking up to the remaining shoe.
Whilst it’s not clear whether it is the same fox or a different one, the wary animal gives the remaining shoe a sniff, exactly like before, and grabs it with its jaws.
It takes off again across the driver, leaving Jake shoeless and out of pocket.
Whilst he claims that he did hunt the boots down, his efforts were in vain as he found the footwear chewed beyond repair.
The CCTV footage of the foxy heist was shared to social media yesterday with the caption: “A cautionary tale for anyone who returns from a winter ride and leaves their muddy cycling shoes outside to dry.
“Oxford Cycling Club (OCC) member, Jake Oppon, assumed an opportunistic thief had relieved him of his spanking new Northwave winter boots from outside his front door, but a review of his security footage revealed the culprit was the four-legged variety.
“Needless to say, sympathy was in short supply from his fellow OCC members, with more expressing concern for the poor animal.
“’What does that say about the smell of your feet, Jake, that a scavenging fox wants to eat your shoes?’, asked one.
“Sadly, there was no happy ending to this tail. Jake pursued the thief into the undergrowth, only to find his boots gnawed, nibbled and beyond repair.”
The post has received a slew of likes and comments on social media from Brits chuckling at the cheeky fox’s thievery, with one quipping: “Can’t decide if this is worse than a fox doing a poo in your trainers.”
