Town Baffled By Disappearance Of Over 100 Shoes. Thief Turns Out To Be...

In a suburb of Berlin in Germany, locals were baffled for weeks by the theft of footwear from their gardens at night. According to the BBC, residents of the leafy suburb of Zehlendorf puzzled about who could be stealing flip flops and sports shoes at night until they uncovered the unlikely culprit. 

Among the many sandals, shoes, flip flops and sneakers that disappeared from the town were local resident Christian Meyer's running shoes, Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel reported, according to Fox News.

Mr Meyer posted about the theft of his shoes on a popular noticeboard-sharing platform called Nebenan.de, where he learned that his were not the only pair of shoes to go missing of late. Many other locals had also posted about the loss of a pair of shoes or a single shoe - with the total coming up to over 100 thefts. While looking into the bizarre disappearances, Mr Meyer unmasked the thief. It was a fox. 

Fuchs, Du hast die Schuh gestohlen...????In #Zehlendorf wurden mehr als 100 Schuhe von einem Fuchs gemopst. Die ganze Geschichte morgen @TspCheckpoint. (????: Christian Meyer) pic.twitter.com/pjnKhvobOa

— Felix Hackenbruch (@FHackenbruch) July 26, 2020

According to Mr Meyer, he caught the fox "red-handed" in the act of walking away with a pair of blue flip-flops and clicked a picture of the thief. He later discovered the fox's treasure trove of shoes - photos of which were posted on Twitter by Tagesspiegel editor Felix Hackenbruch.

The photos have collected thousands of 'likes' on the microblogging platform, amusing many. Take a look at some of the reactions that the incident has garnered:

That's adorable and definitely very interesting. What do wildlife experts say as far as explaining the behaviour? I hope the fox is safe and everyone has found a way to replace their footwear. It's an amazing phenomenon, very noteworthy and a fun story during pandemic.

— thepeopleofwa (@thepeopleofwa) August 2, 2020

My primary concern is the number of Crocs in this picture...

— Alex Kennett (@AlexKennett5) August 1, 2020

While three other pairs of shoes have been reclaimed by their owners, Mr Meyer is yet to find his running shoes.