Prince Albert's SPCA had a break-in over the weekend. (File Photo/paNOW Staff)

By Rob Mahon

SPCA Robbed

‘Disheartening’: Local SPCA victims of break-in, theft

Apr 4, 2022 | 5:00 PM

A recent break-and-enter and theft has left a shortfall for the Prince Albert SPCA and left them wondering what sort of person would steal from animals.

When shelter staff arrived at work on Saturday morning, they found someone had broken into the back compound. It’s unlikely this was a spur of the moment crime, either, as whoever did this appeared to come prepared.

“They ended up cutting through a part of our fence where our lock goes in and ended up busting through another gate,” said shelter manager Ashlee Bober. “They ended up breaking two of our gates, which we have now got to get fixed.”

Whoever broke into the shelter’s back compound didn’t cut through the chain link fence but rather cut through a bolt that would allow them to swing the gate open. While not all the stockpiled cans and bottles were stolen, quite a few are now missing.

“It’s quite disheartening to find out that somebody would, first of all, steal from the shelter, but secondly go to that extent to also damage our property here,” Bober said.

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“Those funds can be a huge make or break with big surgeries that we have to do on some of these animals,” said Bober. “That could be the difference for spaying and neutering some of these animals. It’s definitely a big hit to us.”

The silver lining to this cloud, according to Bober, has been the public response. The community has increased donations to help the shelter make up the shortfall left by the theft.

“We’re very grateful for our very generous community here,” Bober said. “It’s something that we have had funds come back to us from the kind individuals who have heard of what happened this weekend. But it is definitely disheartening. Stealing from the animals, ultimately, it’s affecting their lives and what we have the funds and capabilities to do for them.”

For those looking to help the shelter in this tough time, SARCAN still has a drop-and-go set up for them where you can choose to have money from your empty cans and bottles donated to the shelter. They’re also accepting donations via e-transfer at their donation email, and some of those funds are likely to go toward increased security for the shelter.

“At this time, we definitely are looking into getting some more security measures put up to get some better surveillance in our back compound area,” Bober said. “We are currently having our gates fixed by our wonderful neighbours over here at Dee-Jacks.”

Bober added the extra surveillance will also help them when people abandon animals at the shelter. She also said the shelter’s out-of-the-way location likely means the crime was planned ahead of time.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP