The Humane Society of St. Thomas was broken into Wednesday evening or early Thursday morning. Kennel manager Phyllis Rogers said when she went to the shelter’s Weymouth Rhymer Highway campus about 7:30 a.m. Christmas morning she was greeted outside by the dogs that normally are in the shelter’s offices.

Rogers said the shelter’s safe had been jackhammered out of the floor of the manager’s office and taken.

She said the police arrived shortly after she called Thursday morning with the forensics unit. "They are investigating it now,” she said.

Rogers said they lost yesterday’s No Flea Boutique’s receipts and some petty cash.

Shelter manager Rhea Vasconcellos was off-island when she heard the news. Speaking from her family’s Detroit home, she said, "Thank heavens no people or animals were injured.” However, she expressed disgust at the perpetrators.

"In this economy, to do something like this is just plain disgusting,” Vasconcellos said. "What little money we make goes right into the care and protection of the animals. It’s hard to believe someone would do something like this at this time of the year. It’s like stealing toys from children.”

She said the safe was bolted to the floor. "They came in through another window and then found my office where the safe is,” she said. "The windows in the quarantine area have safety wires. We will have to install safety measures on all the office windows now.”

Vasconcellos was particularly bereft at the news this time of year. "The season started out on such a high note,” she said. "We had a dog walk last weekend. It was great fun and some dogs got adopted. Everybody’s morale was up.

"Anyway, none of the staff was injured, and no animals were hurt,” she concluded, adding that the resident sheep was making quite a racket. Alas, he can’t tell who did it.