THIEVES have taken ferrets away from their rescue home for the third time.

Louise McCutcheon, 33, of Brookfield Gardens, Carlisle, cares for rescued animals from Wetheral’s refuge.

Paddy and Beanie were stolen from her garden on Tuesday night. It is the third time in six weeks she has been targeted by ferret thieves, with her shed twice broken into.

She fears for the safety of her pets.

She said: “After the first time they were stolen I found Paddy in Harraby with a bloody nose and her two front canines broken.

“He must have been kicked in the face. I took him home and now they’ve taken him again.”

Paddy and Beanie are easy to recognise. Paddy, a champagne coloured polecat, and Beanie, an albino with his left forefoot missing, are both microchipped.

Miss McCutcheon told the News & Star how on a school day in November a gang of boys aged about 12 came to her house and tried unsuccessfully to persuade her grandad to sell the ferrets.

When she arrived home from her job at Craig Robinsons vets that evening, she found their shed door kicked in and three ferrets taken, along with a sledgehammer.

She said: “I want my pets back. I would be elated just to know they are okay. Even people who hate ferrets fell in love with Beanie. He was a real character.

“I’ve lost them all now. Only Pipkin was left and I had to give her back to the refuge because I didn’t want to risk her being taken by these people. They must be sick. Their parents should be more responsible.”

She is worried her ferrets may be used to lure cats out of bushes so lurchers can be set on them.

In June this year, residents in Harraby reported how thugs put a cat in a telephone box and sent their dogs in to kill it. Later that month, a Blundell Road resident’s cat was savaged by lurchers ordered to attack.

However, police feel it is more likely the stolen ferrets are being used to catch rabbits.

Sgt Ed Armstrong, at Carlisle Police, said: “Anyone who steals a ferret needs their head read – they can be vicious.

“I suspect it is someone who is used to handling ferrets and that is a very small number of people around here.

“They are generally kept for rabbiting. We have an officer looking into it.”