A RARE dog has disappeared from a secure garden in a Kent town, prompting its owner to fear her pet has been snatched.

Mistey the Alaskan Malamute went missing from the family home in St Alban's Close, Gillingham, on Sunday.

Her owner Sarah Randles, who is a PDSA charity worker, said: "She has never escaped from our garden, because the gate is bolted from the inside."

Miss Randles works at the PDSA Pet Aid Hospital in Gillingham as a care assistant. She took abandoned Mistey home last April as a birthday present for her son Ricky, now 19.

She added: "It really upsets me that I'm spending my life helping animals who are sick and abandoned and then I take one home and after such a hard life she is then stolen."

Mistey is spayed, so cannot be used for breeding, and is microchipped. She is also an unusual breed so would not be easy to sell on.

Anyone who can help find Mistey is asked to contact 07807 457346.