Days after dealing with a puppy chow thief, the Columbus-Lowndes Humane Society has a new, albeit good, problem: Local animal lovers have responded with a deluge of dog food — more, in fact, than what was stolen.
Shelter Manager Jason Nickles estimates more than 300 bags of kibble have been donated, and the calls keep coming. Employees have been incredulous, and grateful, as they’ve watched the small pile of bags in the front lobby grow to a mountain of different brands and sizes.
“It’s enough food to last the rest of this year,” Nickles said. “Plus, people donated not only food but also money. We’ve taken in $1,200 so far.”
Nickles discovered the burglary Wednesday morning around 8:15 a.m. as he was preparing for the morning feeding. He knew something was wrong as soon as he approached an outside storage building and saw the locks lying on the ground, severed by bolt cutters.
The burglary was a shock, given it’s the first he’s seen in his seven years at the shelter, but the methodology behind the criminology also came as a surprise. The thief stole 800 pounds of Purina dog food but left the cat food untouched.
The 40-pound bags will likely be resold, Nickles said.
With the shelter already struggling to make ends meet, and still trying to raise money for construction of a new, larger facility, the theft could have created a crisis. Were it not for a small amount of food kept in a different location, they would not have even been able to feed the dogs Wednesday morning.
“It affects us, because we rely on donations,” Nickles said. “Without that coming in, there’s no other way to feed them. Any time someone (steals from the shelter), it definitely can hurt us.”
But, he estimates, the Humane Society has been blessed ten-fold. After a post to their Facebook page about the burglary, bags of food began arriving.
“I was completely surprised how many people brought food,” he said. “It was pretty touching.”
The Humane Society plans to thwart future chow hounds by moving the donations off site.
So far, the Columbus Police Department has no suspects, Nickles said. The incident remains under investigation.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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