[blonder]

Stealing a catalytic converter to sell for money cannot be equivocated to shoplifting. Plenty of shoplifters are doing it for the thrill or to obtain things that they wouldn't pay for, no one is doing that with cats, they are doing it to try and survive.

[Telemakhos]

There was serious money in catalytic converter theft and an organized ring behind it raking in millions of dollars (up to $545 million) [0]. That’s not trying to survive. Since the arrest of the organizers of the ring, catalytic converter theft has fallen off significantly: without that criminal enterprise, catalytic converter theft ceased to be wildly lucrative. People who steal to survive steal essentials like food, not catalytic converters.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%E2%80%932022_catalytic_...