Thieves take SPCA shelter funds

Money which would have run the North Otago SPCA shelter in Oamaru for about two weeks, feeding and caring for animals, was stolen in a burglary early on Tuesday morning.

‘‘It's really awful. I got such a fright when I arrived for work,'' shelter manager April Gilchrist said on Tuesday.

She was greeted by the sight of a kicked-in security door. She found a digital keypad safe containing $753.40, a donation box and raffle and pen sales money stolen.

The safe was big enough that anyone carrying it would have been noticed.

In total, more than $900 was taken.

The money had been raised over the past two to three weeks and would have been used to run the shelter.

To help replace the donations, Oamaru radio station Classic Hits FM was running an appeal.

Sergeant Wayne Brew, of Oamaru, said the Stuart St shelter was broken into between 12.30am and 12.45am on Tuesday.

Police were appealing to the public for any information about the burglary or suspicious behaviour at the shelter around that time.

- Oamaru police recovered two stolen vehicles on Tuesday.

A Nissan Terrano, taken in Oamaru, was recovered in Kakanui Valley Rd without its wheels and a $19,000 Kawasaki Mule bike, taken from a Pig Island Rd farm between April 5 and 8, was found at Gemmells Crossing.

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