A POISONOUS toad has been stolen from a Deeside animal park overnight, leaving staff 'heartbroken'.

Damage was also done to the building at Greenacres Animal Park, which is situated in Mancot.

Staff say the reptile house on site was broken into, with windows and the toad enclosure being 'smashed' to gain access into the building.

Once inside, the thieves stole a Cane Toad, named Terri.

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A spokesperson for the park said that staff have 'come to terms' with the fact that they will likely never see Terri returned.

They added: "Unfortunately last night we were subject to a break in and an animal being taken off site.

"Our reptile house has unfortunately been broken into - windows were smashed to gain access through into the building and then our cane toads enclosure has been completely smashed to take it away.

"We are heartbroken at not only the damage done to the buildings but our animal team are devastated at the loss of Terri our Cane Toad.

"We have all completely come to terms with the idea of never receiving Terri back but all we can hope is that whoever has taken the effort to do this will look after her in the way she needs, with correct heating, diet and humidity.

The Leader:

PIC: Terri the toad. Picture by Greenacres Animal Park.

"If you know of anyone who has done this or hear of anything we’d be super grateful, if you are the person/people that have Terri - hopefully she’s still alive and not injured from the glass being smashed into her enclosure - please remember she is TOXIC so don’t have her around any other pets or small children as they will get very poorly and enough damage has already been done!

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"The police and forensics have been with us at the park for most of the day taking dustings and samples of all the broken glass.

"As always we can’t thank everyone enough for all your support and understanding, and for staying understanding whilst our reptile house remains closed until we can fix all the damages."

A statement from North Wales Police read: "We are investigating a report of a theft of a cane toad from Greenacres Animal Park in Mancot, Deeside.

"The species, which can potentially be life-threatening to small animals and cause illness and rashes to humans, was taken from its reptile enclosure, which was found to have been smashed on Wednesday, August 10.

"The incident is understood to have taken place sometime after staff closed the site to visitors, between 5pm on Tuesday, August 9th and 8am on Wednesday, August 10th.

"Anyone with information that could assist with our investigation and the safe return of the toad is urged to contact officers on 101, or via the website, using reference 22000582180."