An Angus heifer like this was slaughtered and taken from a Northland farm. Photo/File
An Angus heifer like this was slaughtered and taken from a Northland farm. Photo/File
Police in Kaipara are investigating the slaughter and theft of two cows - one where the legs were hacked off a pregnant cow and its body left in a paddock.
While it is unclear if the two incidents were linked, both are believed to have happened last Wednesday night.
At a Waiotira farm, 32km south west of Whangarei, just a piles of internal organs remained.
One of the farm's owners said the two-year-old Angus heifer was taken from a paddock close to the road.
She said it happened around midnight when the cattle were sleeping by the fence. She thought the heifer, which was in a paddock with about 25 to 30 other animals, had probably been shot.
She said it had been recently drenched so wasn't currently fit for human consumption.
Further north, police confirmed a second cow, around five years old, had been killed in Waipoua River Rd sometime between 10pm on September 13 and 6am the next day.
A Facebook post contained graphic pictures of the slaughtered cow with its legs hacked off and the body left in a paddock.
The post said the cow was pregnant and due to calve anytime and "the calf inside her was killed viciously as well".