Joan Sheppard really wishes thieves would lay off her welcome mat.
“This is the second one I’ve had stolen,” the Penticton woman lamented on social media.
The Okanagan woman shared her story on the Penticton Facebook group on Wednesday night with video of the second heist.
A woman wearing a pink toque, black jacket and jeans is seen walking up to Sheppard’s front door with a rust-coloured dog.
She leans down and picks up the welcome mat and walks away with it.
In December of 2017, Sheppard was so disappointed when the first rectangular rug disappeared, she not only bought a new one but also purchased a surveillance camera to keep an eye on it.
“I often say the second mat really cost me $429: The camera and replacement mat,” Sheppard told Global News, a bit tongue-in-cheek.
Sheppard isn’t sure why she’s been targeted but she believes speaking up about the growing problem of petty crime could help shed more light on the issue.
“The policeman said it was a new one on him. He’s never had a report of a welcome mat stolen.”
“People might wonder about reporting it, but how else are we gonna get resources to address it?” Sheppard wrote in response to another Penticton resident’s loss.
“People seem to have no shame anymore – they see something they don’t have and like, they take it,” Dee Newman, who had her LED tree stolen from the front door, said. “The thievery in this town is appalling.”
Hailey Bailey said, “Remember when we used to be able to keep keys under our doormats… now it seems we cant even trust leaving the mat around.”
Another person suggested it may have been needed by a homeless person.
“She maybe using the mat to let her dog or her have something under them on these very cold nights,’ Lona Kraiger wrote. “A welcome mat just maybe very welcome on a night out in the cold.”
Sheppard wrote her address on the mat to help bring it home if it was stolen, but fully doesn’t expect it will find it’s way back to her door.
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