RAID ON FLOCKS

Southland Times, Issue 21090, 23 May 1930, Page 3

RAID ON FLOCKS

SHEEP STEALING GANGS. ALARM ON YORKSHIRE WOLDS. “Wild West” raiders—the sheep rustlers who play such a prominent part in American films and magazines—have appeared in real life on the rolling acres of the Yorkshire Wolds. They are making swift and silent descents on the local farm stock with alarming frequency. At dawn or dusk the raiders arrive with tarpaulin-covered motor-waggons, which they draw up in the shadow of a convenient, tall quickwood fence. Confederates who are accustomed to the handling of sheep round up their plunder, lift them through a gap into the waiting vehicle on the other side, and the transport is off in a cloud of dust before the farm hands can raise an alarm. Scores of East Yorkshire farmers have been taking steps to catch the marauders red-handed, and working in collaboration with the police. Four farmers reported sheep missing from their flocks in the Driffield area during a recent fortnight. Footmarks, torn fleeces sticking to the hedgerows, and other traces of the raiders were found by one farmer, and the clues were in possession of the police. Mr R. Megginson, one of the victims, ,is a breeder of valuable “Leicester” sheep, and the holder of a championship for the best woolled sheep in Yorkshire. His loss is considerable. The raids were all the more daring because it was then lambing time on the Wolds, and the shepherds were watching the flocks all night. For this reason, however, they were concentrated in one part of their farms, and giving less attention than usual to the “flying” flocks, which are not used for breeding, but are being fattened for the spring markets. It is this class of sheep on which the thieves descend. The area affected is spreading. It is assumed that the sheep are carried away long distances, slaughtered, and disposed of before the losses have been discovered and reported by the farmers.