St. Elmo celebrates return of stolen fox
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Downtown restaurant St. Elmo Steak House is celebrating the return of Winston, the taxidermal fox stolen on Friday night from the 1933 Lounge.
The fox was returned at 8 p.m. Thursday after the restaurant tweeted photos and video from the night of the theft. According to the restaurant, “He arrived in an Uber, solo!”
St. Elmo posted video and photos to Twitter on Thursday, saying surveillance video showed the perpetrators; the restaurant offered a $250 gift card “for information leading to the safe return of our beloved friend.”
With Winston gone, St. Elmo Steak House manager Richard Edwards hoped the taxidermal fox was on an adventure.
“We hope that he is on a journey around the nation going to different steak houses, maybe having a few different bourbons, enjoying himself, seeing this wonderful nation,” Edwards said.
Edwards said the surveillance video showed the thieves snatching the little fox that had stood at attention for nearly two years by the fireplace upstairs.
“It looks like two couples. Two women and two men,” explained Edwards. “They had a wonderful dining experience with us and wanted to bring home a memento obviously.”
Two men are shown snatching Winston and placing it at the front entrance downstairs, walking outside, and then returning to take the fox with them.
That’s when the two men appeared to meet up with their female accomplices and drive off with Winston.
But if the “foxnappers,” as St. Elmo called them, returned Winston “unharmed, no hard feelings, we will celebrate his return with a round of drinks on the house.”
St. Elmo posted another short video and a photo that appeared to show that celebration.
“He’s a fun little part of our 1933 atmosphere and obviously these four people fell in love with him,” said Edwards.
The restaurant also posted an image of their beloved fox on the side of a bottle of its famous cocktail sauce:
