Pair shocked over pets' fate

Cheryle Poole still gets visibly upset when she talks about the grisly discovery awaiting her on the morning of September 6.

"We went into the paddock and they were gone." She is talking about her pet sheep, two of which - Ruffles, a 4-year-old ewe, and Bob, a 2-year-old ram, were unable to be found.

"We had a look and think they were led from the paddock by our house, to the one further away, where they were trapped and killed," she says.

Cheryle and her husband Nigel are adamant that the two sheep must have been killed: "There was a blood trail which led out of the paddock to the Carrington Walkway and over the swing bridge."

There, says Cheryle, the blood trail stops and she believes that at this point the animals were transferred to a car. The pool of blood is enough to convince the couple that their pets were killed for meat, so they are asking people in the community to be wary of being offered cheap cuts of mutton.

Blossom had a newborn lamb, now being bottle-fed by Cheryle. Another ewe, Dancer, has since given birth but is ignoring her lamb, Fleck, something Cheryle believes is because of the trauma all four pets in the paddock would have experienced.

"They are all so trusting, if you went into their paddock, they would have followed you, so they would have been easy to catch and kill," she says.

Cheryle and Nigel called the police at the time of the discovery; however, says Nigel, "I may as well have spoken with the janitor" as their report was taken over the phone and police did not visit.

Senior Sergeant Mike Hannah, of Stratford Police, says police are not required to attend all incidents, adding that in this case "it was in a paddock, so there would have been nothing to actually see". He adds that had a shed been broken into as part of the incident, for example, police would have sent crime scene investigators to collect fingerprints.

He says crimes such as this aren't common; however, he reminds small livestock owners to be vigilant, and to always investigate noises heard during the night.

"If your animals are making a noise, don't assume it is just them fussing; investigate, and always call us if you see anything suspicious."