The Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire was broken into last night. The suspect stole hundreds of dollars worth of pet food.

Advertisement Thief steals pet food from Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire League is asking for help replacing the food Share Shares Copy Link Copy

The Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire in Bedford was burglarized Saturday night.Click to watch News 9's coverageA person wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt broke into the pet food pantry early Sunday morning and stole over 500 pounds of dog and cat food and 15 pounds of dog treats.The door to the pet food pantry was ripped off the hinges and the shelves lining the walls were left bare."We're a nonprofit. This food is donated, and then we donate it back out to the community, so for somebody to target that as something that they're going to take -- it just saddens me," Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire President and Chief Executive Officer Monica Zulauf said.For years, the rescue league's food pantry has been a lifeline for hundreds of pets whose owners fall on hard financial times."So if an animal is in a home that is otherwise perfectly good, but they're just needing some assistance such as pet food, that's what we're here for," said Maureen Prendergast, who handles outreach and investigations for the Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire."It's hurtful. Being in this field for a while, you see a lot of awful things, but for some reason this really hits home. We're trying to help people. We're trying to help the community. And for someone to take that away -- it hurts," said Prendergast.The door to the tool shed was also broken but it doesn't look like anything in there is missing.Surveillance images show a man making several trips to carry the food out of the pantry."He sort of pushed his way through the chicken wire that we have there and carried out bag by bag," Zulauf said.Bedford police were on the scene Sunday morning and are looking for the suspect.The Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire is a nonprofit that helps thousands of pets every year. They receive no state or federal funding and rely on donations from local communities.Nobody knows why pet food was the target."I wouldn't have thought that somebody would break in to steal cat food," said Zulauf.Now, it's a scramble to restock the bare shelves."If you're going shopping today, just throw in an extra bag and drop it off at the shelter. Cat food is the majority of what we use, but we also use dry dog food, as well," Prendergast said.The Animal Rescue League is asking for help replacing the stolen food and fixing the doors to the food pantry and tool shed. You can drop off food or treats Sunday until 5 p.m. or anytime after 9 a.m. Monday.