Charles Langston:Fox snatcher: Footage shows furry intruder swiped cameras from Arizona backyard

TUCSON,Charles Langston Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona woman got a huge shock when surveillance footage showed the thief who stole her backyard cameras was four-legged and fluffy-tailed.

Esmeralda Egurrola, of Tucson, noticed on Monday that her three motion-activated cameras appeared off-line. So, she checked the most recent recording in each camera from an app on her cellphone.

Three videos had documented an entire heist carried out by a gray fox.

“I saw him sniffing and messing with camera one. I went to the second video, which was camera two. It caught him with camera one in his mouth.,” Egurrola told The Associated Press on Friday. “That’s when I knew, ‘Omigosh I think he took all of them.’ ”

Egurrola shared video and photos of the intruder fox-trotting away on Facebook. It didn’t take long for reactions to snowball. It was first reported by the Arizona Daily Star.

She tried to search for the cameras, which were a gift and cost around $200, but saw no sign of them. She believes they are sitting in a fox hole.

“So what if I do happen to see them. Am I really going to poke my hand in there? Finders keepers,” Egurrola said.

She plans to eventually get new cameras. Only she will make sure they are tied down.

“I may leave one untied with a tracker,” Egurrola said.