ANIMAL rescuer John Harding has hit out at thieves who stole a litter of three-week old puppies from his sanctuary.

The pups had been in quarantine at the Animal Rescue Centre in Shirley Road, Southampton, and being stolen could have killed them.

Police found four of the dogs on Tuesday abandoned near a local Tesco supermarket, still in the cramped rat cage used by the thieves to carry them off.

But three collie-cross puppies are still lost, and John, manager of ARC, said: "Only idiots would steal such young puppies. They are only about three weeks old. Their owner in Wales said we had to take them, or they went for a swim . . . They were in terrible condition - like little skeletons. We had only had them a short time when they were stolen. We don't know yet if they are free of deadly viruses like distemper or parvo."

The thieves smashed a window and ripped cages, causing hundreds of pounds of damage. As well as stealing the pups, they also took John's pet tortoise Crusty Pie, and injured a black fluffy puppy called Gnasher. Two older pups were left behind.

Gnasher and the recovered puppies are doing well at Christopher Carter's vets in Winchester Road, and police are hopeful of tracking down the others.

But John said: "This could not have happened at a worse time. We are just setting up here in Shirley."

A police spokesman confirmed officers were alerted at around 3.20am yesterday by Tesco staff.

She said the puppies were being kept by vets for overnight observation and that CCTV tapes from the store were being analysed.

A spokesman for the store said the puppies, in a cold and dehydrated state, were fed on kitten milk before being taken by police to nearby Shirley police station.

Anyone with information about the stolen puppies can contact John at ARC on 01703 775555.

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