A concerned pet owner has pleaded for the safe return of his family’s ill cat after an Amazon delivery driver was caught on video picking the animal up and walking away.

Carl Crowther, 53, said that he had been expecting a package on Monday 19 January, but had been forced to leave to go to his job as a maintenance worker about an hour before it arrived, at approximately 2.30pm.

Upon viewing the footage the next day, Crowther caught the man appearing to steal his cat, Nora. He said the man “comes right up the door, picks up the cat, turns around and walks off”.

The alleged abduction appears to have been spontaneous, as, according to Crowther’s account, the man seemed to be going about his job normally outside his family home in Elland, West Yorkshire before stealing Nora.

“He doesn’t get a response at the door as no one was in, so he looks for somewhere safe to put the parcel,” said Crowther. “He then clocked the cat.”

Crowther told YorkshireLive on Tuesday that he and his family were “really worried” for Nora’s safety, as she “always stays very close to home” and is not used to new environments.

“This morning, after she’d been missing since yesterday lunch, for some reason I looked at the cameras to see if she’d been about over the late afternoon/evening,” he said.

“We were devastated when we saw the driver lingering about waiting to seize his opportunity. It was total shock and disbelief when he picked her up and shoved her into his car.”

Crowther has pleaded for the speedy return of Nora, as he says she needs to take medication for a heart murmur.

The incident has already been reported to West Yorkshire police, who said that a “crime of theft has been recorded, and inquiries remain ongoing”.

Crowther said that he had reported the cat burglary to Amazon but decried the lack of help he had received in helping to locate Nora. “Their response was disgusting, asking what monetary value we’d put on the cat,” he said. “How can you put a value on somebody’s pet?”

A spokesperson for Amazon confirmed that the company was investigating the incident and that it had been in touch with police.