Devastation at thief's raid on pet food shop

HUNDREDS OF POUNDS' WORTH OF STOCK TAKEN

- By SOPHIE DOUGHTY Crime Reporter

AN OVERNIGHT raider who made off with hundreds of pounds worth of dog food has left the owners of an independent business devastated.

The Wandering Dog shop, which specialises in selling raw pet food, was targeted during the early hours of Saturday morning.

Joanne Miller said a thief climbed through a back window at her family’s shop, at Cullercoats Metro Station, and helped themselves to around half a dozen 15kg bags of dog food.

The crook is then thought to have carried their haul out the window of The Wandering Dog Food Company, before disappearing into the darkness.

Joanne discovered something was wrong when she opened the shop that morning and discovered a freezer had been left open. A member of the public then came into the shop to tell her a split bag of their branded food had been found discarded on nearby Percy Avenue.

Northumbria Police is appealing for anyone with information about the theft to get in touch.

And Joanne, who runs the business with her husband Matt, has told of her devastation that a thief would choose to target her small business which, like many others, is struggling through difficult times.

The 49-year-old said: “It is unnerving because we are a small family business. They took big bags of dry food.