Burglars who broke into an animal charity rescue centre removed five guinea pigs and later dumped them in a play area with their fur ripped off and strewn across the ground.
CCTV footage captured the thieves running from the outdoor barns of the centre in a Kent village carrying the animals in a crate just after 10pm on Tuesday. At 4pm the next day a woman walking in a children's park with her youngsters stumbled across four of the creatures huddled together, two miles from where they were taken. The crate was found dumped further away.
A passer-by phoned Lisa Inns, who looks after them, to let her know where they were, but one of the guinea pigs remains missing. Lisa, a volunteer for the charity Anim-Mates, who cares for the animals, said she feared the animal, named Buttercup, could be dead because the fur scattered on the floor "was mainly hers".
Lisa said that the four guinea pigs they recovered and took back to the charity's base in New Ash Green were still reeling after being found dirty, terrified and hungry. One, called Pearl, was so traumatised it would not move from its cage and screamed when she tried to move it. Lisa said she also noticed the guinea pig called Jess, which is blind in one eye, had fur torn from its coat.
The rescue animals are old and vulnerable - being aged between five and eight, where the average lifespan for a guinea pig is four to eight. Buttercup, the missing creature, is five.
The charity worker said she believed the thieves only dumped the guinea pigs because of social media pressure following the theft. The online activity regarding the thefts has increased now police have released CCTV images to help trace those responsible for the break-in.
Lisa told the SWNS news agency: "They were very scared and filthy and extremely hungry as I think they were just kept in the box until they were dumped. The carrier was some distance away."
And she pleaded: “If anyone has any further information on my final 'girl' or even who these people are so I can ask them where she is and get her safely home, please get in touch. I do believe it was the power of social media that made them dump them."
The charity leader said it was a "pointless theft" and that she thought the guinea pigs were not the original targets because the thieves were caught on CCTV skulking around all the barns for some time. She added that she thought the burglars were spooked by the feed barn alarm sounding and took the guinea pigs just so they had something to steal.
Footage captured them sprinting off with the animals in a crate. Although they were found abandoned in a children's play park in nearby Hartley, Kent, the next day, Lisa did not think they spent the night there, as the park regularly had visitors who would have noticed the animals.
She said: “I don’t think they came for the guinea pigs — on CCTV they were looking in every nook and cranny. I don't even think they knew what they were coming for — they didn’t come for the guinea pigs, that’s for certain.
“But they definitely came with intent because they had gloves and masks on, maybe to scope out the place. I think they came into the feed barn and the alarms went off scared and them away, then they just grabbed the guinea pigs so in last ditch attempt to take something. I think the guinea pigs were a consolation prize."
She added: "I bet their mums are proud and their friends must be ribbing them for stealing these ferocious animals. I don’t know what goes on in their minds."
Insp Matt Atkinson, of the Sevenoaks Community Safety Unit on Kent Police, said it was wrong to make vulnerable rescue animals suffer even more than they already had. He said: "This charity is run by volunteers who care for animals that can no longer be kept by the owners or have been subjected to mistreatment or cruelty.
"It is wrong for some of these animals to suffer further at the hands of thieves and we have now released an image of two men who may be able to assist with our enquiries.
"I would also ask for residents and dog walkers to keep an eye out for the one guinea pig that remains missing."
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