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Staff shocked by Horsforth animal shelter raid
Staff at a Horsforth animal shelter are in shock after thieves raided their premises for the second time in less than a year.
Thieves stole a laptop, collection boxes and cash when they broke in to The Yorkshire Animal Shelter in Otley Old Road.
Volunteers arrived at the shelter to find that the charity's laptop, which contains all their important documents, the cash tin and collection boxes were all missing.
Staff estimated the total value of the haul at in excess of 600, although believed there was less than 50 in the collection boxes. It is not known how the thieves got in.
The shelter, which cares for over 100 animals ranging from pigs to kittens, was a victim to theft last summer after an entire hen house was stolen from the field, leaving hens vulnerable to wandering predators overnight.
Manager Judith Cotterill said: "It costs approximately 4000 per month to keep the shelter going and so the cost of the burglary has had on the shelter goes far beyond replacing material items.
"We used the laptop, which was donated to the shelter by a volunteer, to assist with keeping our records up to date, as well as the website-which will now have to remain untouched until we can raise the funds need to replace the stolen laptop.
"It certainly begs the question why anyone would even consider taking from a charity!"
Volunteer Jenny Turner said: "We use the laptop when we check out the people who want to re-home an animal, to see whether their address is in a suitable location.
"Now it is going to be a lot more difficult and we will have to resort to paper maps. Luckily we had a back up of the documents that were kept on there.
"We are just looking for people who are prepared to donate anything they can to help us at the shelter or they can come and sponsor an animal.
"It was just a shock to us when it happened. There are no funds out there to sustain animal charities so we really do rely on the donations that people make."
The shelter is now making plans to improve security on the premises by installing CCTV cameras - but this will also be an extra cost.
Insp Simon Hepworth said the matter was being investigated and anyone with information on the raid should contact Otley police station on
(01274) 471450.
* For more information on the shelter and how to make a donation visit the website at: www.yorkshireanimalshelter.org.uk
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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