An animal shelter and charity has been cleaned out by thieves a second time, with the culprits taking off with a haul of building items currently in short supply.
Work to build dog shelters for winter has been set back by a break-in at HUHA's newest site. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
HUHA stands for 'Helping you help animals', and its team were building dog shelters for winter at its new Hutt Valley site before the break-in.
Founder Carolyn Press-McKenzie told Checkpoint all their supplies had been pinched.
The charity had already struggled through Covid-19, freighting delays and increased costs, but this latest setback has left them in the lurch.
"It is really frustrating. Everyone in the community's pitched into make this [new site] happen, so it's pretty much a community hit as well," Press-McKenzie said.
"This time around it was a couple of generators which we used to build with, building supplies like ply, a whole lot of nails and screws, things like that, and also the security camera as well.
"About three months ago ... very similar items were stolen. They'd brought up a hiab and a 4WD ... this is almost identical the way they barged the gates down, entered and the equipment they used ... it seems pretty organised, which is quite distressing."
HUHA runs five shelters in the Wellington region, and the team has been fundraising to build a national hub at the new 63ha site.
"[It will be] somewhere animals from all over New Zealand could come and be rehabilitated prior to being rehomed," Press-McKenzie said.
"There's going to be a vet clinic, a cattery, the dog shelter for rehabilitation, but we also look after farm animals, birds, native birds, but also horses and donkeys and whatever comes our way."
She said the break-in was stunningly selfish behaviour.
"We're still asking for help to build. So any tradies that want to come in and help, and we we're happy to receive donations.
"But for these types of items - they're the sort of things that are in short supply at the moment - building is stretched out everywhere right now because no-one can get their hands on supply. That's going to be our biggest problem.
"We hoped to get animals into the shelter this winter so they could be warm and snuggy and loved, and now potentially that will be held back."
The team will re-assess their security to make the site more secure - once again, she said.
After the first break-in police were able to catch those they believed were responsible when they tried to returning to the site, Press-McKenzie said.
"We don't know if it's the same people.
"Hopefully, if the person that did this is listening they'll grow a conscience, but I'm not entirely hopeful."