Shelter fights back
Staff is tired of burglaries
Post-Tribune (IN)
June 24, 1990
The Hobart Humane Society is installing a security system after being hit by three burglaries in three months.
Whoever broke into the building didn't steal items of immense value, said Director Carol Konopacki. But the burglaries created a feeling of vulnerability which did not exist before among the staff, she said.
The amount of money taken in all three burglaries, estimates Konopacki, is between $150 and $200.
The cash, some of which was in a donation receptacle near the front desk, was designated for such needs as pet food.
Also taken was a clock, along with leashes and collars.
The theft which most concerns the staff, Konopacki said, is that of a puppy, an 8-week-old male brown and white collie-lab.
Konopacki said she believes the burglaries were committed by youths, since typewriters and other items worth more than things stolen were left behind. Also, the timing of the burglaries points to youths, the director reported.
She said the first two burglaries, which occurred within a week of each other, happened when students would be out of school due to spring break. The third burglary occurred shortly after school was out for the year, she said.
The humane society was burglarized about seven years ago, and whoever broke in at that time went after files and nothing else. Konopacki guesses that burglary was committed by a disgruntled ex-employee.
After the latest burglaries, and especially after the theft of an animal, the staff has become afraid another will occur.
"Every time the phone rings at my house on Saturday morning, I think, 'Oh no, we got hit again,' " Konopacki said. "When we come to work every day now we look around to see if anything is missing."
"I hope whoever took the puppy didn't just dump it somewhere," she said.
She said the humane society staff must stretch every dollar.
Konopacki said she clips coupons from newspapers donated for use as bedding and added she knows the prices of brands of pet foods in every supermarket in and near Hobart.
"A 50 cent coupon doesn't seem like much, but those dollars add up," she said.
Although the humane society building on Indiana 130 is on the fringe of Hobart and is in an area where a burglar might easily operate, Konopacki said she and the rest of the staff felt safe until now.
