Sheep theft rises with British meat prices

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Incidents of sheep theft are on the rise in Britain (Photo: US Dept. of Agriculture)

As the price of meat rises, incidents of sheep rustling are increasing in Britain. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Carl Hudspith, a spokesman for the northwest region of Britain’s National Farmers Union, about what’s behind the rural crime wave. Download MP3

Read the Transcript
The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: A crime wave of sorts is sweeping rural Britain.  Thieves are not targeting jewelry shops or banks, or breaking into homes in search of valuables, they’re stealing sheep.  In the last year dozens of British farmers have fallen victim to sheep rustlers.  Carl Hudspith is the public relations officer for the northwest region of Britain’s National Farmer’s Union.  Carl, why is sheep theft on the rise?

Carl Hudspith: It’s on the rise because the market for beef and lamb in the UK is currently rising at the moment.  It’s become something that thieves want to steal because they can make an awful lot of money from it, Marco.  Also, it’s very easy to steal them because in rural Britain the sheep are out in fields in very, very remote areas of countryside.  Unless you’re very local to the area and live in that community, than you would never really question anybody taking sheep into a trailer or something along those lines because these thieves are quite clever.  They look the part, they’re going into fields looking like they know what they’re doing.

Werman: And how much money can you make from a stolen sheep?  I mean what is a head of sheep worth:

Hudspith: At the moment prices are very, very high.  You’re talking somewhere in relation of 60 English pounds per head, which is quite high.

Werman: And the reason is the economic down turn.  I know here in you know, urban United States, a lot of valuable steel for example, from manhole covers to copper downspouts have been nicked[? 1:24].  Is the rise in sheep rustling due to the bad economy?

Hudspith: It is to a certain degree, yeah, because it’s only worth stealing sheep if you’ve got somewhere to funnel them into.  And that’s why black markets are [inaudible 1:36] sadly, and kind of a no questions asked customer.  And that’s where our main worry is with the National Farmer’s Union, sometimes in flocks or herds you have diseases, or if they have been treated with any kind of drug or antibiotic, then they’re not allowed to go into the food chain.  And farmers will know that and obviously they withdraw them and know which of their livestock are not fit for the food chain. However, if you’re a thief you have no idea and the traceability goes completely out of the window.  And that’s a real worry for us because folks are buying stolen sheep that ought not be fit for our human consumption.

Werman: Carl, do you know any farmers personally who’ve had sheep stolen from them?

Hudspith: I do, yeah, I work very closely with our farmers and I think that’s the hardest part of this because farmers get attached.  I mean there’s an awful lot of care in the animal welfare and in some cases some of the flocks will be pedigree herd where you have good lines going back generations.  It’s extremely upsetting for them to see this happen because it’s not just a commodity; they are animals and we do get attached to them.  And it’s very sad when you don’t know what’s happening to them and that can be heartbreaking.

Werman: Carl Hudspith of Britain’s National Farmer’s Union northwest region in Lancaster, England.  Thanks so much.

Hudspith: Thanks, Marco.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.