THIEVES have struck at a charity shop in Maidstone for the second time in a month. The RSPCA shop, in Wheeler Street, was burgled on Sunday night when thieves broke in through a double glazed window at the back of the building.

They made off with cash, several valuable items of stock, and took the large plastic dog that usually sits outside the shop as a collection box.

Staff arrived at the shop on Monday morning to find it had been ransacked. Manageress Margaret Mills said: "It is sole destroying. I don't want many more days like this or I'll give up. We are all volunteers and not one of us takes a penny in salary. We do it for the love of the animals and this is what you get."

According to Mrs Mills, the plastic dogs will cost about £100 to replace and could have had up to £30 inside it. She said: "We are worried people will use it to collect at boot fairs saying they are from the RSPCA."

A spokesperson for the society said there had been cases of this happening in the past and urged anyone who comes across an RSPCA dog collection tin at such an event to call the RSCPA hotline on 08705 555999.

Anyone with any information about the theft on Sunday night should call the area crime reduction unit at Maidstone and Malling Police on 01622 608189.