Wildlife park in Devon launches appeal after thieves steal thousands in cash in overnight raid

Thousands of pounds in cash has been stolen in a burglary at a wildlife park in North Devon.

It’s believed that the thieves forced their way into offices and then used an angle grinder on the safe at Combe Martin Wildlife and Dinosaur Park.

They made off with several thousands of pounds which included both the takings from the park and money raised for wildlife charities.

It happened sometime after the park closed on Thursday 5 September and before opening on Friday 6 September.

The park was forced to close on Friday 6, but opened again for the weekend.

Devon and Cornwall Police is appealing for anyone who may have seen anything suspicious overnight or has CCTV capable of seeing passing vehicles along the A399 between the edge of Combe Martin itself and Easter Close Cross to come forward.

Posting on social media the park said: “Not only has this season been poor for tourism and money is short but some lovely individuals decided to break into our park.

“They used an angle grinder on our safe and stole thousands of pounds of takings and charity money we had raised for various animal charities around the world. They caused countless damage and we have also had to close for the day.

“We hope they are proud of themselves for taking food out of animals' mouths and funds from amazing charities we support.”

The park is now open again but says they can only take card payments as the thieves stole all their change.

The park has also set up a crowdfunding page to help replace the stolen cash.