Sheep rustling in Wales

Press, 27 October 1986, Page 22

Sheep rustling in Wales

By ROBIN CHARTERIS in London

All is not well down on the farms in Wales.

Sheep rustlers are costing small farmers thousands of pounds as a wave of stock thefts hits the rural communities. In the mountainous Dyfed and Powys regions of central and west Wales, 800 sheep and lambs, valued at £30,000 ($90,000) have been stolen or destroyed in the last few months.

Many sheep are simply butchered in the paddocks. Others are taken away, presumably by truck. Rewards for rustlers are high, with carcases fetching up to £4O ($120) each.

The recent jailing of a Powys farmer for four years on nine counts of theft of neighbours’ sheep valued at £BOOO ($24,000) suggests the rustlers are from the farming communities, but it has not deterred others.

The police are receiving reports almost daily of sheep stealing and torchlight slaughter. The National Farmers’ Union Mutual Insurance Society in Wales says it never received a claim resulting from sheep stealing until three years ago. Now its members are talking of forming vigilante groups to cover the remote and mountainous areas of mid-Waies.