Bizarre moment a thief wearing a CLOWN mask steals a rescue puppy from a shelter as it was about to go to a new home

 Animal rescuers have issued a desperate plea to find a puppy bizarrely stolen in a late-night raid by a thief wearing a clown mask.

An intruder, wearing the strange disguise, entered the RSCPA Dakabin shelter, north of Brisbane, on Saturday around 2am. 

They allegedly cut open the cage with an angle grinder and ran off with the puppy.

Cashew, the four-month old female Staffordshire Bull Terrier, was due to be picked up that day by her new adopted family. 

An intruder wearing a clown mask entered RSCPA Dakabin shelter, north of Brisbane, on Saturday around 2am, opening a cage with a grinder and running off with a traumatised puppy (pictured)

Cashew, the four-month old female Staffordshire Bull Terrier taken, was due to be picked up that day by her new family. She is caramel-coloured and has a white patch on her chest (Cashew is pictured)

The thief broke into the cage around 2am with a grinder before emerging carrying Cashew, a four month old Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross puppy (pictured)

'Please help us find Cashew,' the Queensland RSPCA pleaded.

The dog is caramel-coloured and has a large white patch on her chest. 

'Our whole team is absolutely devastated, and so too are the adopters that were due to take Cashew home,' said RSPCA spokeswoman Emma Lagoon. 

The RSPCA had to phone Cashew's new owners to say she'd been stolen.

'In the CCTV footage it's really traumatic, you can see she is not being held right and it was clearly traumatic for the puppy,' Ms Lagoon told the Courier Mail. 

'We just want her returned.'

The thief was shown on security footage entering the shelter, heading to dog cages and using the grinder to open a cage before going inside, then leaving with the squirming dog

An RSPCA spokeswoman said the organisation was 'devastated' by the bizarre crime

During the robbery the thief is seen picking up a cat bed off the ground to cover their head, then dropping it as they struggle to open the dog's cage.  

Anyone with relevant information of the whereabouts of the dog or the person responsible is asked to call the RSPCA 24/7 hotline on 1300 ANIMAL (1300 264 625).

Or they can call Queensland Police 1800 333 000 and quote the reference QP2200470989.