AN attack of "mindless vandalism" at Dudley Zoo and Castle has caused damage to many animal enclosure windows which is expected to cost thousands of pounds to repair.

A graffiti tag was found scratched into the glass of a host of enclosure windows, including the brand new Southern Cassowary exhibit.

The incident is thought to have happened late on Saturday afternoon when the 40-acre charitable zoo site was still busy with visitors who were celebrating the start of ‘Love Your Zoo Week’, a BIAZA initiative aimed at encouraging people to find out more about the work of the animal attraction during half term.

Staff at the zoo couldn't believe what they were seeing when they discovered the damage and zoo director Derek Grove said: “This is simply mindless vandalism which is utterly disheartening following the difficult last 12 months we’ve endured.

“Like all zoos around the country, we were closed for the majority of the past year and managed to carry on thanks to the generosity of our visitors donating to our online fundraising page and halting our development plans so we could continue caring and feeding for our animals.

“Thankfully we’ve come out of the pandemic on the other side with some financial losses, but now we’re going to have to waste money repairing this damage, which only reduces the funds we have available for the care of the animals.”

Anyone wishing to donate to the zoo’s Animal Care Fund can do so by going to https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/dzcanimalcarefund. Anyone who was on site on Saturday and witnessed any suspicious activity is asked to contact West Midlands Police by calling 101, and quoting crime reference number 20/909587/21.