July 19, 2026

A Dog Has Its Day


A Dog Has Its Day
Bad dog. Kursk Oblasat Police, Max

Kursk police investigators found a local purse thief to be more cuddly than expected.

As reported in Russian state media, on July 15, a Kursk woman had her purse stolen. She had gotten off a bus and placed her handbag on the ground near the bus stop and was temporarily distracted. When she returned to the bag, which contained personal documents and other valuables, she found it missing and called the police.

A police team sent to the area reviewed surveillance footage and caught the thief red-pawed: A dog had picked up the bag and taken it to the other side of the street, where he left it.

A review of the bag found that all its contents were still intact, including a savory pastry — the smell of which, it is theorized, tempted the dog into the act of theft. Police believe the dog took the bag hoping for a snack and, finding himself unable to open it, abandoned it.

Kursk police took to the Russian state social media app Max to celebrate the reunification of the woman with her bag and post a photo of the dog taken from a surveillance camera, even though the culprit got away clean.

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