At 12.50 am during the night of Saturday 20th Nov to Sun 21st November thieves broke into Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary and stole a young Jack Russell Terrier.
We have excellent security video footage of the thieves. This has been given to the police who are investigating.
The dog, who is called Lucy was due to have extensive surgery tomorrow (22nd Nov) for a renal problem. She was also on medication that she will not have received for the last two days. Bleakholt are very worried about both her medical needs that are not being met and also the kind of home she is now in. One can only wonder what kind of home would accommodate people who would break into a charity rescue and steal an animal in the dead of night.
There have been previous thefts and attempted thefts of dogs from Bleakholt in the last five years. In all cases we have successfully recovered the dog after media coverage and other precautions that cannot be discussed.
Bleakholt has a very extensive and modern cctv system that films from 16 cameras including full night vision and stores all images for a month. We can therefore review anything that has happened on any of our cameras within the last month. This is currently being done. Due to the way the theft was carried out we are sure that the thieves had previously visited during daylight to select the dog they would steal. As during the day we get better identification evidence this is a help in apprehending the thieves. We have currently reduced the probable thieves to one of two sets of visitors from the previous few days.
If Lucy is returned to Bleakholt within the next few days no prosecutions will be made. This return can be made via a dog warden, a local vet or by returning her to the Police or Bleakholt. If she is not returned we will ensure that all measures are taken to apprehend and prosecute the thieves.
For more information about Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary please click here
