Callous rustlers bring long tenure to an end

Robert Way says extra precautions haven't worked. Photo / Stephen Parker

Isolated areas prime target for thieves, writes Mike Watson.

The senseless slaughter of prime lambs was the final straw for Rerewhakaaitu sheep farmer Robert Way. He sold his 275ha farm on Brett Rd after 15 lambs were shot and stolen for meat last November.

"It was the straw which broke the camel's back really - the lamb industry isn't doing that well but the stock rustling made me decide to sell," he says.

Way's was the last sheep farm in the district.

The isolated farm has been targeted by thieves and rustlers several times over the years, the location making it easier for intruders to trespass and kill valuable stock.

"The thefts were getting more frequent and after the last attack we put extra locks and chains on the road gates."

Robert discovered eight dead lambs in the paddock from a large mob during weaning. Three lambs had been shot through the mouth and were still alive and had to be destroyed, he says.

"We weren't sure how many were actually taken as they came from a mob of 800."

A week later he discovered more ewes had been shot.

Way says the thefts cost him about $1200 but the inconvenience was a greater frustration.

"These people who break in, they usually leave gates open and the mobs get mixed up. We spent valuable hours re-drafting the lambs and sheep."

Way, whose family has farmed in the area for 46 years, says stock being killed by intruders for meat is becoming more common.

Rerewhakaaitu Rural Watch co-ordinator Kerry Snowdon, who has been in the district for 40 years, says wide-scale rustling is more common on the bigger farms on the East Coast, where truckloads of animals can be stolen. But opportunistic theft of stock for meat, as well as theft of equipment and fuel, continues in the Rerewhakaaitu and Reporoa districts.

Federated Farmers has set up a website to try to catch criminals stealing valuable farm animals. The website and map, Stop Stock and Theft, is a joint initiative between Crimestoppers NZ, NZX-Agri and police.

"Theft is constantly niggling us all the time," Snowdon says. "We have a very good Rural Watch community which takes note of anything suspicious or out of the norm and reports it. There are hundreds of eyes and ears out there who can sense anything which is not quite right.

"We work closely with the police and anything we can give them will be another piece in the jigsaw puzzle to catch the criminals."

Thefts come in waves and are carried out by organised gangs stealing to order, he says.

"They seem to be more frequent when there is less work activity on the farm.

"If they are stealing to order there can be a sudden spate and then a lull for six to nine months before you get hit again." Thieves stole over 350 litres of fuel from his tanks over two nights last year, he says. "We put extra locks and chains on the tanks but they broke those off."

Some farmers have installed closed-circuit cameras on entranceways and around fuel tanks, he says.

Snowdon makes it a habit to lock his house when he goes to the dairy shed and the front gate is always padlocked.

"You can never to be too vigilant - everything has to be bolted down. Sometimes you see a car on the drive and they will pretend they are looking for someone but they are casing the place out."

The Federated Farmers website can be found here.