Watch out for sheep rustlers (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Watch out for sheep rustlers

4:10pm Tuesday 27th December 2011 in Lancaster news

FARMERS are being urged to keep sheep away from roadside fields to beat rustlers.

Insurer NFU Mutual is warning that sheep are being stolen across the UK in ‘unprecedented’ numbers – with Lancashire a particular hotspot.

It says that in the UK, some 60,000 sheep and lambs were taken in the first 11 months of the year, 9,000 of them from the North West.

Now NFU Mutual is urging farmers to keep sheep away from roadside fields where possible and to introduce security measures such as paddlocked gates, ensuring all livestock are marked and joining a FarmWatch scheme.

Police suspect the animals are being slaughtered and sold on the black market – in some cases sheep have been butchered in fields.

NFU Mutual spokesman Tim Price said: “During the last decade, livestock rustling has been at historically low levels, but now high meat prices appear to be leading to a resurgence in livestock rustling.”

Sheep account for 90 per cent of rustled animals after the price of lamb rose sharply.