POLICE have recovered almost 200 lambs stolen from farms in the Junee district since May but need help from readers of The Land to identify some of their owners.
On July 4, 170 lambs were stolen from the region, most of which were retrieved two days later by police.
The lambs had their ear tags changed, police allege.
Detective Senior Constable Scott Blanchard, of the Wagga Wagga Rural Crime Investigation Unit, said 165 sheep were returned to their owners but the other five weren’t found.
The police obtained search warrants for two other properties near Junee and found 22 lambs suspected of being among 92 sheep stolen in May.
Senior Detective Blanchard said 14 of those lambs were confirmed as originating from a Sebastopol property but eight couldn’t be identified and are now in “police custody”.
Police also recovered three of four portable sheepyard panels stolen from the Sebastopol property and two Bromar sheep lick feeders, allegedly stolen in April from another property.
Two Junee men, aged 22 and 23, have been ordered to appear in Junee Local Court on September 4 charged with offences relating to stock theft, larceny, goods suspected of being stolen in custody and offences committed under the Local Land Services regulations for the removal of permanent stock identifiers.
The police are now desperate to contact the unidentified sheep owners and by law must make all reasonable attempts to track them down.
If the owners aren’t found within 28 days, the stock will be sold through the local saleyards and the money will go to police revenue, as per legislation, Senior Detective Blanchard said.
“The last thing I want to do is to sell them,” he said.
Police hope readers will identify the ear markings on the lambs (see above).
“It’s rare but not unheard of that we recover stolen sheep,” Senior Detective Blanchard said.
“Usually they are sold off and processed but we always aim to recover stolen stock.”
He said police encouraged the use of CCTV and many local farmers had taken the advice.
“We’d like to see people strengthening their own security by locking gates and ensuring stock have adequate identification,” he said.
“Ear marking and branding are the minimum to be done if we are lucky to recover stock and return them to their rightful owners.”
Senior Detective Blanchard said ear marking also helped identify suspicious stock at sales, particularly when pens of sheep with multiple earmarks had the same National Livestock Identification Systems ear tags.
The thefts came in light of research into rural crime and its effect on farmers (The Land, June 5, pp6-7).
University of New England Associate Professor in Criminology Elaine Barclay is surveying farmers in NSW and Queensland about the incidence of crimes on rural properties to help producers, police and other agencies identify measures to reduce the problem.
The study will be completed in October.
Are these earmarks yours or owned by someone you know? Contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or Wagga Wagga Rural Crime Investigators on 6922 2561 or 6922 2562 or email blan2bra@police.nsw.gov.au or hend1kel@police.nsw.gov.au
