Editorial: Who can blame farmers' reaction

It's not surprising that some farmers take the law into their own hands when it comes to poachers.

Police are duty-bound to say "don't take the law into your own hands" when a gun is involved.

But the frustration of farmers who boxed in a suspected sheep thief at the weekend is understandable.

The rural grapevine swung into action on Saturday when two men were spotted with a dead sheep.

Let's assume they didn't have permission to take it, in the dark.

Stupidly, the two men had placed themselves in a situation where they were on a road that could be boxed in at each end.

And so that's what happened - farmers blocked each end of the road.

One of the two men ran off, as good mates do, leaving the remaining man sitting awkwardly in a ute with a dead sheep for company.

Doesn't look good, does it?

The farmers involved made a decision based on gut instinct and frustration. Were they reckless? The man who ran away had a gun, presumably for disposing of the sheep. As police have warned, it is a situation that could turn ugly.

Farming's tough - sheep are valuable and the gun disappeared with the coward who ran off.

Farmers are practical people - faced with the option of noting down the registration number and calling police, they chose to deal with the incident at a safe distance - who can blame them?