A YOUNG animal lover was devastated when he woke to find thieves had sneaked into his back garden and stolen two of his treasured ferrets.

The pets, one of which is pregnant, were taken from John Clark's garden in Clayton-le-Moors.

John has been keeping ferrets for around a year and spends all his spare time and pocket money on the animals.

Until the raid John, 12, had four ferrets, which he kept in hutches in the garden of his house in Brookland Close.

The thieves sneaked in and prised open the locked cages with a screwdriver before making off with the animals. Mum Mrs JeanClark, said: "John was devastated when he woke up in the morning to find that the ferrets had been taken.

"They are his pride and joy and he spends all his time looking after them. When he saw what had happened, he was almost in tears.

"John bought the hutches with his own money and spends all his pocket money on feed."

Mrs Clark added: "We had some lads knocking on the door last week asking if the ferrets were for sale and John's dad told them to go away.

"You never know. If whoever took the ferrets reads the paper and realises how upset John is they might bring the ferrets back."

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