Appeal to burglars' bellies backfires

BERLIN (Reuters) - A cottage owner in Germany tried to ward off burglars by leaving canned foods on her doorstep, but robbers found the offerings so tasty that they broke into the house to get second helpings, German police said on Tuesday.

The woman who owns the cottage and adjacent garden in Brunswick, western Germany, had left a note for potential burglars not to bother breaking into her cottage but to help themselves to the canned foods on her doorstep, police said.

"The polite appeal that they treat themselves apparently just increased the appetite of the hoodlums," the police said in a statement. "The perpetrators not only took the canned foods but broke open the door and took cucumber salad and sausages."

Petty robbery of summer cottages in Germany is not uncommon since the owners often visit them only weekends.