Squirrels Keep Stealing Chocolate Bars From This Convenience Store

    Tricksy squirrelses.

    Lauren Strapagiel
    by Lauren Strapagiel

    BuzzFeed News Reporter

    This is Luke's Grocery, a convenience store in Toronto owned by the Kim family. And they have a very nutty problem.

    Cindy Kim

    Squirrels.

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    Chocolate-stealing squirrels.

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    Juliet and Paul Kim, pictured here with one of their daughters, have been watching squirrels sneak off with chocolate treats for years.

    Cindy Kim

    It all started about five years ago, the couple's daughter Cindy told BuzzFeed Canada.

    "Basically, my parents sort of suspected something was happening because we’d hear a rustling where the chocolate bars are," she said.

    "They started investigating more and they realized it was a squirrel getting away with different kinds of chocolate bars."

    The Kims tend to leave the shop's front door open since it gets stuffy in the store and it's expensive to run air conditioning, which is how the critters get in.

    For some reason, there was a spike in squirrel thievery last fall, which is when Cindy's dad started recording the capers.

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    "They’re so fast we can hardly catch them, we don’t even know when they’re there most of time," said Cindy.

    Her dad estimates they've lost at least 40 chocolate bars to squirrels over the years.

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    Cindy posted about the problem on Reddit, hoping to get advice on stopping the thefts.

    "The most popular ones have been why don’t you get a dog or cat, why don’t you get a screen door," she said. While they do have a dog, he prefers to stay in the back. And renovations are costly.

    "They are good suggestions in a sense, but I don’t think we’ve found the perfect [solution]. We’ll try a couple."

    In the meantime, the squirrels have been a hit on social media. The family now has a YouTube channel, Facebook page, and Twitter account to record the antics.

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    They're hoping the YouTube views could help recoup some profits, but for now they have a fanbase of people cheering for the squirrels.

    "People have responded very positively to it. They find it funny for the most part. People cheer for the squirrels or give us suggestions for how to deter them," she said.

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    "But I think just as many people want the squirrels to come."