The Speeding Duck, the Hungry Javelina, and “Leonardo da Pinchy”

Summary

---

Podcast Summary

Criminal – "The Speeding Duck, the Hungry Javelina, and ‘Leonardo da Pinchy’"
Host: Phoebe Judge
Release Date: December 19, 2025
Episode Theme:
A whimsical, end-of-year collection of true animal antics, featuring tales of wildlife and pets caught in the act of mischief, heroism, and improbable adventure. True to Criminal's spirit, these stories sit at the intersection of the absurd, the heartwarming, and the criminally odd.

---

Main Themes and Structure

• Animal encounters with the law and public life, often in ways that echo human foibles or legal systems.
• The blurring line between animals doing "wrong" and their inherent nature.
• Community, humor, and the unexpected ways animals weave into human stories.
• The show's annual tradition of an "animals" episode.

---

Key Stories & Insights

1. The Speeding Duck of Koenitz, Switzerland

[00:49–04:20]

Overview:

A duck is caught by a speed camera, “speeding” through an empty street at 52 km/h, far above the car limit of 30 km/h.

Notables:

• Sven Montgomery (police chief near Bern) recounts the episode:
  • "There is a duck on the photo." – Sven [01:44]
  • The duck outpaced the local speed limit and would have incurred a "heavy penalty" had it been able to pay.
  • The police keep a “hall of fame” of unusual speed camera pictures, featuring the duck alongside local Santa Claus photos—and even photos of Sven himself cycling too fast.
• Quote:
  “‘Normally if you compare it to a car driver, it would have given a report to the public prosecutor... I think the duck would have lost the driving license and even fine, like much more than thousand Swiss francs.’” – Sven [02:33]
• The comical anthropomorphism—discussing punishments as if the duck were a driver—reflects the light tone.

---

2. The Hungry Javelina in the Subaru

[06:32–10:33]

Overview:

A javelina gets trapped in a car after a midnight Cheetos heist in Cornville, Arizona. The animal inadvertently releases the handbrake and rolls the car into a grove.

Notables:

• Sgt. Zebediah Dickinson (Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office):
  • Recounts finding the javelina and the puzzle of how the car rolled away.
  • "There was a bag of Cheetos that were inside the car. So... the javelina was having a midnight snack, for lack of better terms." [08:36]
  • Used a rope to open the hatch from inside his patrol car to avoid confronting the angry, “snarling” javelina.
  • "After that initial walking up to the car and it trying to, like, I don't say eat me, but it felt that way through the window. I erred on the side of caution." [09:41]
  • Damage included chewed seats, dashboards, and devoured snacks.
• The incident blends animal cunning with slapstick misadventure, and showcases the unusual calls police must sometimes answer.

---

3. The Doorbell-Ringing Slug in Bavaria, Germany

[10:33–13:13]

Overview:

Residents of an apartment are repeatedly alarmed by nighttime doorbell-ringing, only to discover a slug sliming its way across the panel.

Notables:

• Investigations escalate as suspicion falls on pranksters.
• The culprit: a slime-trailing slug, “relocated” by police after “being taught about boundaries.”
• Tone: Dry humor in the escalation and gentle treatment of the slug.

---

4. Joshua the Marathon Goat, Newfoundland

[14:12–20:26]

Overview:

A beloved farm goat, Joshua, escapes and spontaneously joins a community half-marathon, running 5km and crossing the finish line to a hero’s welcome.

Notables:

• Heidi Taylor (Joshua's owner):
  • “He’s walked with a leash, but even though there’s a leash on him, I don’t hold it. Joshua walks with me by my side, and when I turn around to come back, he’ll come back.” [15:19]
  • The local community tracks Joshua via social media and crossing guards.
  • Runners slow down for him, he’s protected by participants, and is “awarded a medal” at the finish.
  • Quote: “He just wanted to run.” – Heidi [18:32]
  • Becomes local celebrity—people participate in the race hoping to run with him.
• A heartwarming tale of animal agency and community joy.

---

5. Ray Ray the Traveling Cat, Pennsylvania/New Hampshire

[20:26–24:53]

Overview:

Ray Ray, the family cat, survives a 105-mile, two-hour trip clinging to the roof of the family van, unnoticed, and emerges unfazed at a rest stop.

Notables:

• Tony and Margaret DiNardo and daughter Sophia:
  • “I just at first couldn’t believe it. And then I started laughing.” – Tony [21:56]
  • Cat stretches, strolls, and later takes part in vacation family activities—including crossing a marathon finish line with Tony.
  • No one on the highway notices or alerts the family.
  • The story is told with disbelief, relief, and humor about the cat’s tenacity and luck.

---

6. The Polite Black Bear at Sequoia Park Zoo, California

[27:06–31:18]

Overview:

Christine Noel from Sequoia Park Zoo finds a wild black bear strolling the zoo’s elevated pathways, calmly observing resident bears and never trying to join them.

Notables:

• The bear enters via a tree over the barbed-wire fence; zookeepers use air horns and leaf blowers to guide him out without incident.
  • “At one point he laid down and looked like he was getting ready to just take a nap.” – Christine [28:54]
  • Staff joke the zoo is “full,” and the bear is a “very polite visitor.”
• Zoo has plans for animal escapes, but not for wildlife breaking in.

---

7. Leonardo da Pinchy: The Kleptomaniac Cat, Auckland, New Zealand

[31:52–37:16]

Overview:

Leo (a.k.a. Leonardo da Pinchy), a small but mighty cat, becomes infamous for daily and nightly thefts of socks, clothes, and stuffed animals from up to 40 neighboring households.

Notables:

• Helen North, his owner, and affected neighbor Wendy Ballard:
  • “He has come back quite often, takes things off the clothesline. ... He has definitely taken other neighbors’ underwear.” – Wendy [34:22]
  • The family manages a neighborhood WhatsApp group for the restitution of stolen items, sharing weekly photos of Leo’s latest haul.
  • Neighbors are delighted with their local “cat burglar.”
• Quote: "The house comes with the cat burglar, so hopefully he'll visit you." [35:13]
• Story highlights both the nuisance and neighborly communion arising from Leo’s antics.

---

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• "There is a duck on the photo." — Sven Montgomery [01:44]
• “If you compare it to a car driver, ... the duck would have lost the driving license and even fine, like much more than thousand Swiss francs.” — Sven Montgomery [02:33]
• "The javelina was having a midnight snack. For lack of better terms." — Sgt. Zebediah Dickinson [08:36]
• "After that initial walking up to the car and it trying to, like, I don't say eat me, but it felt that way through the window." — Sgt. Zebediah Dickinson [09:41]
• (On Joshua the goat) "He just wanted to run." — Heidi Taylor [18:32]
• (On Ray Ray the cat) “He was just standing on the van like he normally would ... He was just walking in circles, rubbing his head against the luggage like nothing had happened.” – Tony DiNardo [22:22]
• “At one point he laid down and looked like he was getting ready to just take a nap.” — Christine Noel [28:54]
• “He has come back quite often, takes things off the clothesline, so does fixate on my husband's socks. ... He has definitely taken other neighbors’ underwear.” — Wendy Ballard [34:22]
• "The house comes with the cat burglar, so hopefully he'll visit you." — Helen North [35:13]

---

Tone & Style

• Gently humorous, empathetic storytelling.
• Anthropomorphism, but with self-aware irony.
• Community and kindness as undercurrents: from neighbors tracking a goat to Facebook groups for stolen socks.
• In keeping with Criminal’s roots, animals run afoul of—or become victims of—rules built for humans, but always retain their innocence.

---

Timestamps of Key Segments

| Story | Start | End | |--------------------------------------|---------|---------| | Speeding Duck, Switzerland | 00:46 | 04:20 | | Hungry Javelina, Arizona | 06:32 | 10:33 | | Doorbell Slug, Germany | 10:33 | 13:13 | | Marathon Goat, Newfoundland | 14:12 | 20:26 | | Road Trip Cat, USA | 20:26 | 24:53 | | Polite Bear, California | 27:06 | 31:18 | | Kleptomaniac Cat, New Zealand | 31:52 | 37:16 |

---

Final Thoughts

This episode of Criminal encapsulates everything listeners love about the show: the intersection of law, mischief, absurdity, and community—but filtered through unexpectedly touching stories centered on animals whose actions seem both criminal and charming. The annual animal episode cements itself as a joyful, much-loved tradition, perfect for closing out the year.

---

Transcript

[Phoebe Judge]

Support for Criminal comes from Squarespace. Squarespace is the all in one platform designed to help you make a great website. Whether you're just starting out or trying to grow your business, Squarespace gives you everything you need to choose a URL, show off what you're selling, reach more customers, get paid, and do it all while looking professional. Everything in one place. Check out squarespace.com criminal for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use the offer code criminal to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Amazon has everything for everyone on your list. Like your sister who refuses to accept that she does not have a face for bangs. Get her a lovely hat. And with Amazon last minute deals, you'll save big. Maybe grab her some barrettes too.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Hello, Phoebe, here is Sven from Switzerland.

[Phoebe Judge]

Hi Sven. Sven Montgomery is the head of the police inspectorate in a town near Bern, Switzerland.

[Guest/Interviewee]

The municipality of Koenitz.

[Phoebe Judge]

So what is a typical day like at your job?

[Guest/Interviewee]

Oh, my typical day is actually I'm drinking a coffee first and then I get my computer started and normally I'm always writing emails, answering phone calls to people which who are upset about getting a fine.

[Phoebe Judge]

Sven says he and his colleagues mostly handle things like speeding tickets and parking fines. He each week they go through a batch of photographs of speeding cars captured by the speed radar cameras around town. One day last April, Sven's colleague Susan Haubecker was looking through the photos and she noticed that one speed radar's camera had been triggered by something that wasn't a car.

[Guest/Interviewee]

There is a duck on the photo.

[Phoebe Judge]

What is the duck doing in the photograph?

[Guest/Interviewee]

He is flying, flying through the street.

[Phoebe Judge]

In the photograph there's nothing else on the road, just this duck right in the center with its wings stretched out. So to, to trigger the speed radar camera, you have to be going a certain speed.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Yeah, the speed limit there was 30 and the duck meant 52 kilometers per hour.

[Phoebe Judge]

That's a fast duck.

[Guest/Interviewee]

That was. I don't know how fast ducks are, but the duck was way too fast.

[Phoebe Judge]

What's the penalty for going that fast?

[Guest/Interviewee]

Oh, that would have been a heavy penalty because normally if you compare it to the, to a car driver, it would have given a report to the public prosecutor and normally I think the duck would have lost the driving license and even fine, like much more than thousand Swiss francs, which is like US$300 or something like that.

[Phoebe Judge]

Have you ever seen any other animals speeding like that?

[Guest/Interviewee]

No, no. Sometimes we have a Santa Claus in December, but not at the Santa Slate in diphthere.

[Phoebe Judge]

Just Santa, not his sleigh.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Yes, there we have also a good picture.

[Phoebe Judge]

I heard someone put up the picture of the duck.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Yes, it's on the wall. We have a hall of fame with the pictures. Also with the Santa Claus.

[Phoebe Judge]

Oh, so the duck is next to the Santa Claus.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Yes, yes, exactly.

[Phoebe Judge]

Sometimes Sven is up there too.

[Guest/Interviewee]

I'm doing a lot of biking, so sometimes I'm also in the rudder. My team, if they think there is a funny picture, they put them up to remember me, that they shouldn't go too fast.

[Phoebe Judge]

I want to see a race between you and that duck. The duck and you on your bike.

[Guest/Interviewee]

And see? It depends. If you go downhill, the other direction as the duck went, then perhaps I might be fast enough to follow. And otherwise no chance.

[Phoebe Judge]

The duck isn't contending with hills like you might be.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. She has an easier. She don't have to follow the roads. And then me, unfortunately I have to stay on the road.

[Phoebe Judge]

If this is your first December listening to Criminal, you might not know that we have an annual tradition of creating these animals episodes dating back to 2021. It all started with a story from 1908. We saw, when reading an old archival newspaper, a dog, a quote, splendid Newfoundland outside Paris saved a small child who fell into the Seine. The dog was rewarded with a steak. And two days later, the same dog saved another child from drowning in the river. Then it happened again. Whenever the dog saw a child playing on the edge of the stream, he promptly knocked it into the water and jumped in to the rescue. He had thus established for himself a profitable source of revenue. The headline was Dog a Fake Hero. We're now on our fifth annual animals episode. Last year's included a dog that ate $4,000. We brought you stories about bees, seagulls, camels, foxes and pigs. This year, the episode hit a little close to home when the building where we record had a sudden and unexplained flea issue. At first, someone thought kittens had snuck in or been let in. Eventually it was discovered that the source of the fleas was a possum living in the H Vac system. As of this recording, the possum has outsmarted multiple professionals. It's an ongoing mystery, and as a result, I'm recording this episode in my guest bedroom. Happy five years of animals. Really going for it. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is criminal. In April of 2022, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office in Arizona got a call about a car in a Vacant lot in a town called cornville. An officer went to investigate.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Sure enough, as I rounded the corner, there was a Subaru hatchback off kind of under some trees. And it looked like it had almost been parked under the trees or left there abandoned. It was. Looked to be a little. Little odd, to say the least.

[Phoebe Judge]

This is sergeant Zebediah Dickinson. He said it looked like it could have been a getaway car that someone ditched. He parked his own police car nearby.

[Guest/Interviewee]

And got out of my own vehicle and walked over, and there was a javelina inside of the subaru.

[Phoebe Judge]

Javelinas technically aren't pigs, but they do look just like them.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Here in Arizona, there's. There's an abundance of them.

[Phoebe Judge]

How big are they?

[Guest/Interviewee]

They range from 40 to 80 pounds.

[Phoebe Judge]

And are they nice?

[Guest/Interviewee]

They're nice. Maybe from a distance, they're known to be a little aggressive. If you stop, you get up close to them. Got pretty large teeth that I'm sure if they got a hold of, you would be a. Wouldn't make for a good day for somebody.

[Phoebe Judge]

Zebediah remembers when he walked up to the car, it looked like the javelina had chewed up parts of the inside. All of the doors were closed. It didn't seem like it could get out.

[Guest/Interviewee]

It took a little bit of investigating and just, I guess, imagination, to say the least. How and why the vehicle was where it was. With the javelina trapped inside, he tried.

[Phoebe Judge]

To figure out where the car had come from. Asking neighbors who were around, he learned that it belonged to a man who lived across the street. He said that when he knocked on his door, at first the man seemed like he didn't want to talk.

[Guest/Interviewee]

I don't think he was very understanding initially that there was a javelina in his car. I'm sure if I told that to anybody else, I think it was a joke.

[Phoebe Judge]

He also didn't understand how his car had ended up in the vacant lot. Zebediah learned that the man had left the rear hatch of his car open overnight in his driveway across the street.

[Guest/Interviewee]

And there was a bag of cheetos that were inside the. Inside the car. So doing my. My investigation there, it seems that the javelina was having a. A midnight snack. For lack of better terms.

[Phoebe Judge]

Zappadiah thought the hatch must have closed when the javelina jumped into the car for the cheetos and that it spent the rest of the night trying to get back out.

[Guest/Interviewee]

The vehicle was a manual, so all the crashing around that kicked the vehicle in neutral rolled from the driveway across the road and down into the under the trees on the opposing side.

[Phoebe Judge]

Zebediah says getting it out of the car was much harder than he'd expected.

[Guest/Interviewee]

The Avalon wasn't moving much until I got closer to the window and they kind of snarled out the window.

[Phoebe Judge]

Zebediah decided to tie a rope to the handle of the rear hatch, run the rope through the window of his own patrol car, and from the front seat of his car, pull the rope and open the hatch. You didn't want to just open the door?

[Guest/Interviewee]

No. After that initial walking up to the car and it trying to, like, I don't say eat me, but it felt that way through the window. I erred on the side of caution for that part.

[Phoebe Judge]

So you protected yourself with a rope and you sat in your car.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Yep. And cracked the latch, pulled and. And just said a little prayer. Hopefully he'll just move along his day. So.

[Phoebe Judge]

And did he?

[Guest/Interviewee]

Absolutely. I think he was more excited to get out of there than I was.

[Phoebe Judge]

So he jumped out and he went running away.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Long gone. Never to be seen or heard from since.

[Phoebe Judge]

Did you get a pretty good look of the car once he got out of there, what he had done?

[Guest/Interviewee]

The dashboard itself had been chewed on. Some of the seats were torn up. The bag was definitely torn open. So the cheetahs were gone.

[Phoebe Judge]

One of my favorite stories of the year happened in Bavaria, Germany. People in an apartment building were woken up late at night by someone ringing their doorbells. When they looked, they couldn't see anyone. It didn't make any sense. One resident said she thought it was teenagers playing a prank. But then her upstairs neighbor called to say someone was ringing her doorbell. Quote, it kept ringing even as we telephoned. Despite the fact no one could be seen at the door, we became really uneasy. That's when we decided to call the police. Two officers arrived. The bell kept ringing. No one saw anyone. The motion detector wasn't activating. And then looking very closely, everyone noticed a trail of slime and a slug taking a walk across the doorbell panel. A police spokesperson said the slug had been taught about boundaries and placed on a nearby stretch of grass. We'll be right back to listen without ads. Join Criminal Plus. Thanks to Squarespace for their support. Squarespace is the all in one platform designed to help you make a great website. Whether you're just starting out or trying to grow your business, Squarespace gives you everything you need to choose a URL, show off what you're selling, reach more customers, get paid, and do it all while looking professional. Everything in one place, no matter what you're working on. Whether it's a podcast, a special event, photography services, or a consultation business, you can customize your website to reach the right people. If you're creating video content like online courses, tutorials, or workshops, Squarespace has built in ways to support that. With Squarespace, you can upload your videos into an organized paywalled library. And they make it easy to collect payment with thoughtfully designed invoices and online payments. Plus, they have tools that make it convenient for people to keep in touch with you, tools that help you send emails to potential customers or that let your customers schedule their own appointments. Check out squarespace.com criminal for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, use the offer code criminal to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Guys, thanks for helping me carry my Christmas tree. Zoe. This thing weighs a ton. Drew, ski lift with your legs, man.

[Phoebe Judge]

Santa. Santa, did you get my letter?

[Guest/Interviewee]

He's talking to you, Bridges. I'm not.

[Phoebe Judge]

Of course he did.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Right, Santa, you know my elf Drewski here. He handles the nice list. And elf, I'm six' three. What everyone wants is iPhone 17 and at T Mobile. You can get it on them. That center stage front camera is amazing for group selfies. Right, Mrs. Claus? I'm Mrs. Claus, much younger sister.

[Phoebe Judge]

And AT T Mobile, there's no trade in needed when you switch, so you.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Can keep your old phone or give it as a gift.

[Phoebe Judge]

And the best part, you can make the switch to T Mobile from your phone in just 15 minutes.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Nice. My side of the tree is slipping. Kimber. The holidays are better. AT T Mobile switch in just 15 minutes and get iPhone 17 on us with no trade in needed.

[Phoebe Judge]

With 24 monthly bill credits for well qualified customers plus tax and $35 device.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Connection charge credits end and balance due if you pay off earlier.

[Phoebe Judge]

Cancel Finance agreement. 256 gigs, $830 eligible. Poured in a new line. $100 plus a month plan with auto pay plus taxes and fees required.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Check out in 15 minutes or less per line.

[Phoebe Judge]

Visit t mobile.com did he come with the name Joshua or did you give him that name?

[Guest/Interviewee]

Nope. Joshua. That was his name when we got him.

[Phoebe Judge]

Kind of a funny name for a goat.

[Guest/Interviewee]

I know. I have no idea where that name came from.

[Phoebe Judge]

This is Heidi Taylor. One day a few years ago, Heidi's father was buying goats for their farm and one of them was Joshua.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Actually, after him, we had a female go with him and we called her Dolly. I don't know if you know. Well, you Know the singer Dolly Parton? She sung a song called Joshua, and that was why she was called Dolly. Because of him.

[Phoebe Judge]

Joshua lives on Heidi's farm, Taylor's pumpkin patch in Newfoundland.

[Guest/Interviewee]

People call me his person because he watches me wherever. I'm also the one who gives the treats.

[Phoebe Judge]

So at the pumpkin patch, Joshua spends most of his time outside. But he does have his own little house, and Heidi takes him for daily walks, like on a leash.

[Guest/Interviewee]

He's walked with a leash, but even though there's a leash on him, I don't hold it. Joshua walks with me by my side, and when I turn around to come back, he'll come back. If I run, he'll run. If I stop, he'll stop. I don't have to tell him. He just does whatever I do.

[Phoebe Judge]

One day last year, Heidi was at home with her husband, about a mile away from their farm. It was a Sunday, and the pumpkin patch wasn't open. And then her husband, Colin, asked Heidi to come over and look at something on his computer.

[Guest/Interviewee]

And he says to me, I think we have a problem. He was looking on Facebook, just somebody said, there's a goat on the loose. And he said, joshua is down at the intersection in a community called Long Pond. And he's in the intersection on the crosswalk, and he's running. And I thought, no, no way. And when I looked at the picture, it was him.

[Phoebe Judge]

Heidi says she was surprised because Joshua had never escaped before. Whenever he got loose on the farm, he never went anywhere. But that day, the town was holding their first half marathon. Over 200 people had signed up. They were running along an old rail bed, and the course went right by Joshua's house on the pumpkin patch.

[Guest/Interviewee]

And when they were running by, he must have thought, I'm going with them. So he. He broke. He broke the. His. His rope or his leash.

[Phoebe Judge]

There were more photos of Joshua popping up on Facebook. Heidi and Colin posted, asking anyone who saw him to send them tips if they saw Joshua. They decided to head to the last place where they'd seen photos of him.

[Guest/Interviewee]

We got the truck, and then at that time, Joshua loved cheesies, so we took cheesies with us, and we got them.

[Phoebe Judge]

He loved what?

[Guest/Interviewee]

He loved cheesies.

[Phoebe Judge]

What is that?

[Guest/Interviewee]

Soft cheesies. Like potato chips, but a cheesy. He liked a bag of cheesies.

[Phoebe Judge]

Cheesies. A Canadian version of Cheetos. When they got to the last place Joshua had been photographed, he wasn't there. But they found a crossing guard who.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Had seen him, spoke to the Crossing guard where the pitcher was said that he kept going with the runners and stayed on the trail. He didn't wander off. He kept going with them.

[Phoebe Judge]

Heidi and Colin kept following the race course. At another intersection, one of the volunteers said they'd just seen a goat go by. Another volunteer at a water station tried to stop Joshua, but he seemed to want to keep running. People posted videos running with him. Some of the runners would form a little ring around him. At one point, he seemed to be getting tired, so they slowed down to.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Stay with him because they were afraid something would happen to him. And when the next group of runners would pass, he would take off and chase them.

[Phoebe Judge]

So he. He just wanted to run.

[Guest/Interviewee]

He just wanted to run. Yep, he did.

[Phoebe Judge]

And then they heard that a runner had gotten a hold of Joshua and handed him over to a police officer. They were waiting up ahead. When Heidi and Colin caught up to Joshua, they decided to let him finish if he wanted to.

[Guest/Interviewee]

He kept running. He kept running and we let him do it. And he crossed the finish line with some of the runners and was awarded a medal.

[Phoebe Judge]

How far did he end up running that day?

[Guest/Interviewee]

Five kilometers. So roughly three and a half miles.

[Phoebe Judge]

That's a long time for a 150 pound, 11 year old goat.

[Guest/Interviewee]

It's very long. And actually goats only live to be 14 to 15 years old.

[Phoebe Judge]

So he's kind of an old man.

[Guest/Interviewee]

He is an old man. He is an old man. And actually the veterinarians, we had them come in and check him out and to see he was okay. And they said it for his age, it's a wonder he ran that much. And he was fine. He was totally fine.

[Phoebe Judge]

What did he do the next day?

[Guest/Interviewee]

He slept the whole next day. The whole day.

[Phoebe Judge]

Heidi says it was the first time she'd ever heard him snore. After the race, dozens of people came to the pumpkin patch to see Joshua. They brought him apples and bread. Do you think he would tolerate a little pair of shoes?

[Guest/Interviewee]

No, I don't think over those hooves. No. He's got some pretty good hoofs that we have to keep trimmed.

[Phoebe Judge]

Well, Heidi, I hope that I get to run with Joshua someday. He seems like he'd be a good companion.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Well, this run this year was bigger than last year. And majority of the runners, half of them said to us, the reason why we've done it is because we were hoping Joshua would be in this race.

[Phoebe Judge]

Earlier this year, Tony DiNardo and his family set off on a road trip from their farm in Pennsylvania to New Hampshire. Tony was Planning to run a marathon there. He's trying to run one in every state. Tony packed their van the night before they left and strapped their luggage to the roof. He, his wife Margaret, their daughter and a few of her friends started driving at 5:30 in the morning. Here's Margaret.

[Guest/Interviewee]

It was about 45 minutes of country road, uphills, downhills, turns. It's a really mountainous area to get from where we are to Interstate 80, which goes the whole way across Pennsylvania into New York and the upper New England states. So we were on that for about 45 minutes and then we got on Interstate 80, which is a busy interstate. You know the speed limit, 70 miles per hour. There's lots of semi trucks.

[Phoebe Judge]

How long were you driving before you made your first stop?

[Guest/Interviewee]

A little over two hours. It was 105 miles.

[Phoebe Judge]

And Tony, what happened when you pulled over?

[Guest/Interviewee]

Nothing out of the ordinary until I saw the cat.

[Phoebe Judge]

What do you mean you saw the cat?

[Guest/Interviewee]

Well, I went ahead and got out of the van and got my wallet out and I just started walking towards the back of the van and the pump and just getting my card out of my wallet. And then I looked up to the left and Ray Ray was just standing there looking at me.

[Phoebe Judge]

Ray Ray, their cat. On the roof of the van, on.

[Guest/Interviewee]

The back of the roof, behind the luggage carrier. I just at first just couldn't believe it. And then I started laughing. And at that time, Margaret and the girls were walking around the front of the van and she looked over and said, what? And I just raised my hand and Ray Ray looked at Margaret, wanted someone to get him down and hold him, I guess.

[Phoebe Judge]

What was it? Did he seem scared? How was it?

[Guest/Interviewee]

No, not at all. He just. He was just standing on the van like he normally would. Yeah. By the time I got to the back, he was stretching. You know, cats will put their head down and stretch. He was just walking in circles, rubbing his head against the luggage like nothing had happened.

[Phoebe Judge]

Here's Toni and Margaret's daughter, Sophia.

[Guest/Interviewee]

I don't get up to go to the bathroom a lot during road trips. I technically sleep a lot. So I was just waking up when my mom opened the door and got into the car with the cat. And I look at her and I didn't notice at first. And she's holding the cat in her arms. And I was like, where did Ray Ray come from?

[Phoebe Judge]

Before they left home that morning, Tony remembers tightening the strap, securing the luggage.

[Guest/Interviewee]

To the car, and he wasn't there. We got in the car and started driving. So he had to have been holding onto the back of the luggage carrier with his claws. Right. Because no one saw him either. I could see no one seeing him on our rural trip. But on the interstate, you would have thought somebody may have seen a cat on the roof and tried to alert us. But that didn't happen at all. Someone behind us, right? Someone behind you, like, beep, beep, there's a cat on your roof? Well, there were people passing us, but.

[Phoebe Judge]

No, they did not beep at all.

[Guest/Interviewee]

No.

[Phoebe Judge]

You said this was 105 miles that you had driven?

[Guest/Interviewee]

Yes.

[Phoebe Judge]

Windy roads on the highway going 70 miles an hour.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Yes. My family liked to joke that they were glad that my husband was driving because if I was, Ray Ray for sure wouldn't have made it.

[Phoebe Judge]

When the Dinardos found Ray Ray, they talked about turning around to take him home, but Tony said he's just going to come with us. And how was his trip? I mean, did he take part in the activities?

[Guest/Interviewee]

He did everything with us. Everything. We went hiking when we were in New Hampshire to a couple state parks. Then we decided that Ray Ray should cross the finish line with my husband, which is exactly what he did. We waited for him. Right. You know, before the finish line, I passed him over the fence and Tony ran right through the finish line with Ray Ray in his arms.

[Phoebe Judge]

We'll be right back. Fox Creative. This is advertiser content brought to you by Nature Sunshine, New Marine Glow Collagen. Blue light is everywhere.

[Guest/Interviewee]

We wake up, we look at our phones, we're watching tv. We don't realize how much blue light.

[Phoebe Judge]

In itself can affect our skin. My name is Dr. Brianna Olamidju.

[Guest/Interviewee]

I am a dermatologist based in New York City. We know that blue light causes free.

[Phoebe Judge]

Radical breakdown and free radicals create oxidative stress on the cells. And so when the cells are stressed.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Out, the collagen is breaking down more easily.

[Phoebe Judge]

That's when the aging process can be accelerated prematurely. Screens and blue light aren't going anywhere. That's why Nature Sunshine New Marine Glow combines the age defying properties of marine collagen with skin supporting vitamins and antioxidants and powerful blue light busting lutein. What we know about lutein is that.

[Guest/Interviewee]

It is a natural blue light filter.

[Phoebe Judge]

Lutein and antioxidants are like a power couple.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Combined they can prevent premature aging and collagen breakdown.

[Phoebe Judge]

Experience more radiant skin and proven eye protection with Nature Sunshine New Marine Glow, the only collagen product clinically proven to support eye and skin health and defend against blue light. Try Nature Sunshine New Marine glow [e-mail] Support for the show comes from Estee Lauder. This holiday season, make sure all eyes are on you with Estee Lauder's iconic Double wear Foundation. Its 24 hour color Tru Wear and oil control make it the perfect fit to be your next go to foundation. It's lightweight and buildable with medium to full coverage and a natural matte finish. It stays in place all day. No touch ups needed. Find your perfect match with over 55 shades that flatter all skin tones. Shop Estee Lauder Double wear Foundation on Estee Lauder.com.

[Guest/Interviewee]

I had just completed my inspection of the Redwood skywalk. I was finishing up walking the remaining pathways of the zoo and my last stretch tends to be going through the bear boardwalk. So the bear habitat spans two sides with a boardwalk that crosses between them. So I had just been finishing that route and so it's a place I expect to see bears. I'm used to seeing bears. Just that that day there was a bear on the wrong side or the other side of the fence from where I normally see them.

[Phoebe Judge]

This is Christine Noel. She's worked at Sequoia Park Zoo in Northern California for nine years. The zoo has boardwalks that let you walk up high in the trees in some places about 100ft off the ground. Someone at the zoo has to check them every morning to make sure nothing's broken overnight. One morning in October, Christine went out to take a look and that's when she saw a black bear walking along the boardwalk.

[Guest/Interviewee]

I looked at him and could recognize immediately that this wasn't any bear that I knew who lived at the zoo and was an outsider who had come by to visit.

[Phoebe Judge]

What was it doing?

[Guest/Interviewee]

He was just taking a stroll. Yeah, he was just very relaxed and calmly visiting each of our three bears, going from sort of one to the other. They were safely in their own quarters. So all of those interactions were happening through a barrier, through a fence.

[Phoebe Judge]

Was he active? Did he have pretty good behavior?

[Guest/Interviewee]

Oh, he was very calm, very comfortable. At one point he laid down and looked like he was getting ready to just take a nap.

[Phoebe Judge]

He thought he's spending the night in a hotel or something.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Yeah, yeah. I think he thought he found a pretty good place to live. But unfortunately we are all full.

[Phoebe Judge]

Christine says the bear stayed on the path and never tried to climb over the railings to get into the bear habitat. There's a picture of him with his two back feet on the ground standing up with his two front paws resting on the railing, peering down, looking into the enclosure, he looks like anyone else just there for the day, enjoying the zoo. How did the bear get in?

[Guest/Interviewee]

You know, we have a perimeter fence that goes around the zoo that's topped with barbed wire that's there to be keeping, you know, our animals safe. But there are trees that are close to that perimeter fence. And our best guess is that he had scaled a tree near the fence and was able to get past the barbed wire on top. They have a pretty thick fur coat, so, you know, he probably got over without encountering too much of the barbed ends. And if he's motivated enough, you know, bears are pretty intelligent and pretty physically capable of a lot.

[Phoebe Judge]

The zoo has plans and drills for what happens if an animal escapes their habitat. But they'd never planned for a wild animal coming into the zoo. Christine radioed other staff about the bear. Someone radioed back, is this a drill? The zoo delayed opening while Christine, along with four other zookeepers and the zoo director got to work. They closed the gates except for the ones on the path that led back to the forest. Whenever the bear went the wrong way, they made loud noises to redirect it. What kind of noises do you make to keep the bear away?

[Guest/Interviewee]

We have some air horns, we have a leaf blower that we use for just cleaning the pathways, but it makes a startling sound. So between all of that, we're able to discourage him from staying too close.

[Phoebe Judge]

Eventually, after about 45 minutes, the bear did leave the zoo. Posted about the bear online. They said they had had an eventful morning, but that the bear was overall a very polite visitor. One day earlier this year, Wendy Ballard was on an important work call from her home in Auckland, New Zealand, when she heard her 11 year old son shouting.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Finished my call. And I said to my son, that was really rude. I told you not to interrupt that call. What was going on?

[Phoebe Judge]

And he goes, leo came running through.

[Guest/Interviewee]

The house and he stole your jacket, Mum. And I'm like, what are you talking about?

[Phoebe Judge]

Wendy has security cameras in her house. She opened up her phone and looked at the footage and there's this video.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Footage of Leo running out of our house with my brand new $300 mohair jump, running down the stairs of our house and up the driveway, dragging it along the concrete. And my son going.

[Phoebe Judge]

I'm Helen north and I have a lovely little cat called Leonardo who's rather naughty. He was named Leonardo initially by my daughter because he used to lie on his back like a ninja turtle. But then when he started being a little Bit of a criminal. He changed to Leonardo di Penci because it fitted him better from the very beginning. Helen says she knew there was something different about Leo. The moment he came into the house, he was hunting down all of our socks. So he would find our socks, bring them to us, and then we would throw them away back across the room, and he would bring them back. So he was very much into fetching. He loved that. And he wasn't really into kind of normal chasey cat toys, like things that roll along the floor or fluffy mice. He always liked socks and gloves. When Leo was about four months old, Helen and her family started letting Leo outdoors. One day I came home from work and There was about 10 single socks on the lounge floor. And I thought to myself, my husband Tim, I thought, why would he leave.

[Guest/Interviewee]

All his socks there?

[Phoebe Judge]

That's weird. But I didn't really think anything of it. And then Tim came home and said, none of those are my socks. And then we sort of were settling down for the night to have dinner, and Leo walked in with a T shirt. And we were like, oh, dear. Helen and her family didn't recognize the T shirt either. Leo started bringing more and more clothing home, sometimes every day, sometimes as many as 15 times a day. How many items of clothing has he brought home? At this point, about 300.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Yeah.

[Phoebe Judge]

Including from Helen's neighbor, Wendy Ballard. Leo's taken more than just her mohair sweater.

[Guest/Interviewee]

He has come back quite often, takes things off the clothesline, so does fixate on my husband's socks.

[Phoebe Judge]

He hasn't taken any of our underwear.

[Guest/Interviewee]

But he has definitely taken other neighbors underwear.

[Phoebe Judge]

Helen says Leo's also taken pants, shirts, boxers, gloves, a gym towel, even a big stuffed animal. Wendy says she's seen him scaling their fence to grab things off their clothesline. So he's just like dragging the stuff in his mouth? Yeah, in his little mouth. So he. He's a very little cat. He's not a big cat. And so some of the things he's brought home, he's brought home big, really big jerseys, like brand new jerseys with the tags on them and things that were worth a lot of money. And he just drags them in between his legs and he jumps over fences with them. He's quite agile and determined, like our neighbors. He's run away like he's been caught in the act a few times, and he's sprinted off still with them in his mouth.

[Guest/Interviewee]

You can't get anywhere near him.

[Phoebe Judge]

Yeah, he's fast. Leo has been bringing stolen items home for more than A year now. What do you do with all of it? Well, we, for a while we just kind of went around the neighbors and asked if it was theirs, if things were theirs. And we did get a few hits, get a few people going, yeah, that's mine. But then he went a bit wider. So I started posting on Facebook about once a month and we realized he was going to about 40 different places. And now I have a WhatsApp group. Every week, Helen lays out all the clothes that Leo has brought home, takes a picture and people respond with their items circled and say, that's fine and that's fine and that's fine. And then you do the drop off. Yeah, or they come. Sometimes people come around and see us because often they want to meet him because a lot of people have heard about them. Our neighbors that just bought their house, he stole their sock last week and they were thrilled because the real estate agent that sold them the house said, oh, the house comes with the cat burglar, so hopefully he'll visit you. And they were so thrilled that he turned up. We'll have photos and videos of all the animals from today's episode up on our Instagram and TikTok criminalpodcast. Recently we've said goodbye to some friends. Lena Sillison's dog, Disco Jackie Sajiko's cat, Jack Burton. Katie Bishop's dog Coco. Lauren Spore's dog Ardell. Thank you very much for listening this year. Happy holidays and see you in 2026. Criminal is created by Lauren Spore and me. Nadia Wilson is our senior producer. Katie Bishop is our supervising producer. Our producers are Susanna Roberson, Jackie Sajiko, Lily Clark, Lena Sillison and Megan Kinane. Our engineer is Veronica Simonetti. Julian Alexander makes original illustrations for each episode of Criminal. You can see [e-mail] and you can sign up for our [e-mail] Newsletter. We hope you'll join our membership program Criminal plus now on Patreon. It's the very best way to support our work. You can listen to Criminal, this is Love. And Phoebe reads a mystery without any ads. Plus you'll get bonus episodes, behind the scenes photos and videos and you'll be able to talk directly with us and other Criminal listeners. We recently had a live event where we shared an animal story that we had to cut for time from this episode. If you missed it, you can watch the recording right now. Criminal plus also makes a great last minute holiday gift. Learn more and sign [e-mail] Criminal Criminal is part of the Vox Media Podcast network. Discover more great [e-mail] I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Right now is the AI gold rush. And that means everybody who builds an app, a platform, a piece of software, a gizmo that somebody, anything, everybody is.

[Phoebe Judge]

Trying to put AI everywhere.

[Guest/Interviewee]

And for two weeks in a series on the Vergecast, we are talking through what that looks like. We're talking to developers about what they're building and how they're building it and whether AI actually does make sense everywhere or is just going to ruin everything in the process. That's the AI miniseries on the Vergecast. Wherever you get podcasts, this series is presented by MongoDB.

[Phoebe Judge]

2025 was a wild year for the tech industry.

[Guest/Interviewee]

AI seemed like it took over everyone's brains.

[Phoebe Judge]

It was the only thing anyone wanted to talk about.

[Guest/Interviewee]

Nvidia became the most valuable company in the world.

[Phoebe Judge]

We had some huge new video games. The Switch 2 launched. A lot of people got it. There was just a lot going on. And on the Vergecast, we are talking.

[Guest/Interviewee]

About the best, the worst, the most important, the biggest heel turns, all the stuff that happened in 2025, and making maybe a few predictions about what's gonna happen next year. All that and more on the Vergecast. Wherever you get podcasts.

[Phoebe Judge]

This series is presented by Jira, by Atlassian.