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Cape Town – Criminals caused damage worth R100 000 to vehicles at the Cape of Good Hope SPCA in Grassy Park, affecting services to about 200 animals, a spokesperson said on Tuesday.
On Monday morning, staff found the security gate had been taken off its railing and batteries were stolen from three of their five Nissan NP300 bakkies, SPCA spokesperson Belinda Abrahams said. Computers were stolen from the horse care unit.
"I actually find it somewhat infuriating that the SPCA, which is a non-profit organisation, being attacked by this criminal element who fails to see the work the SPCA does to protect animals and protect humans – the two are interconnected."
Two of the vehicles’ batteries and a spare tyre were left behind. The bakkies were however badly damaged.
The five bakkies are used as mobile clinics, for charity drives and educational purposes.
"The charity vehicle is used to collect goods which we use to feed the animals in our shelter or to collect donations for the shelter’s operations," Abrahams said.
"The mobile clinic units see about 500 animals in a week, which means roughly 200 animals will suffer due to the damage caused by these criminals."
They were in talks with their insurer to ensure the facility could return to full capacity by Thursday.
Western Cape police spokesperson Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana said a case of malicious damage to property, theft, and attempted theft out of a vehicle was opened at the Grassy Park police station on Monday.
She said no arrests had been made. This is the second SPCA which was broken into the past week.
On Sunday, four men claiming to be seeking help for an injured animal stole cellphones, cash, laptops and an oven from the Ivory Park SPCA in Midrand, Gauteng.
An employee was held at gunpoint and tied up.
