Eight Humane Society of Greater Miami vans vandalized

Taking animals to the hospital, ferrying cats to Pet Supermarket for adoption and bringing food and supplies to the Humane Society of Greater Miami’s North Miami Beach campus just got harder.

That’s because eight of the nonprofit organization’s vans were vandalized early Wednesday morning as they sat in a campus parking lot at 16101 West Dixie Hwy.

“If you want to cripple someone with the car, take out the battery,” said Laurie Hoffman, executive director of the Humane Society of Greater Miami.

Hoffman said that surveillance video recorded someone in the parking lot at about 1 a.m. Wednesday removing the batteries from seven vans and damaging an eighth. She said the latches on the hoods were broken and some cables were cut.

“This is going to cost us thousands to repair,” she said. “For anyone to want to damage this organization is unconscionable.”

North Miami Beach Police Maj. Kathy Katerman said detectives were investing and looking at the surveillance video. She said they were also looking into the possibility that an ex-employee was involved.

This story was originally published August 5, 2015 at 9:37 PM with the headline "Eight Humane Society of Greater Miami vans vandalized."