handlebar cheetah

Toronto bar on the hunt for stolen cheetah

Have you seen someone carting around a life-sized cheetah statue in Toronto? While the oversize feline figurine might not pose any immediate threat to public safety, there's a bizarre back story to its disappearance.

A few days ago, Kensington Market watering hole Handlebar posted the following note on Facebook:

"Have you seen this Cheetah? Last seen wearing his favorite pink boa, being STOLEN from Handlebar? Last seen running north on Augusta in the arms of a woman in a red coat on Monday night. Please bring back Sermal."

According to Metro News, one of Handelbar's customers actually chased the red-coated women down the street to retrieve the stolen statue, but perhaps inspired by the speed of the noble animal in hand, she proved too fast and escaped.

Bar owner Rachel Conduit just wants her cheetah back. A gift from her now husband about six years ago, it's been a fixture at the bar, and as she hints in her Facebook post, stealing stuff like this just looks bad on the city in general.

Conduit has reached out to a group of patrons at the bar that night, and will accept Serpal returned safe and sound with no questions asked.

Lead photo by

Handlebar's Facebook page


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