A Jackson animal shelter called Animal Rescue Fund was broken into early yesterday morning.
According to Shelter Director Pippa Jackson the break-in happened at 12:38 a.m., according to the shelter’s video surveillance.
She mentioned that this is the second break-in this month, with the first one leaving behind less damage.
On June 18th, someone broke a window and came inside and stole over $600 worth of canned dog food and a bunch of frozen chicken.
She said they filed a police report and moved in, because the damage cost less than the cost of their insurance deductible.
Last night, however, the same man came back to the shelter and caused significant damage.
He destroyed the front door of the shelter, stole all of the vaccines for the dogs, the diagnostic tests, and he caused one of the dogs inside to throw a clot causing significant vet bills.
The dogs in the front lobby are all there due to health issues, and most are going through heartworm treatment. Chuck, who was undergoing heartworm treatment, got so stressed that he threw a clot. He is now getting intensive care at the vet to try to save his life.
The stolen products are valued at around $7,000 and the front door was an 8-foot steel, commercial door. (they are not sure how much that will cost to replace).
Jackson said,
“We are a charity, trying to do God’s work. We do not have corporate donors, we don’t have a fairy Godmother, we are not wealthy and often times get by day to day. We are not able to sustain huge losses without a good bit of pain on our part. I know we have been making frequent asks for help, but the issues keep happening. We really need our community of supporters to help us so that we can do right by these animals who did not ask to be here on this earth, abandoned, abused, neglected and suffering.”
If you are able to make a tax-deductible donation to ARF, you can do so via PayPal at ejackson@arfms.org or through venmo at @ARFMS.
A few days before this incident, the shelter posted on social media saying that they are in need of industrial fans for the rescue dogs. Several of their fans are old and have broken recently.
With the dangerous heat, the dogs desperately need these fans to stay healthy and cool.
