This article is from page 22 of the 2012-06-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 22 JPG
GARDAÍ are investigating an incidence of cattle rustling in East Clare with a Quin farmer losing almost € 5,000 worth of livestock in a nighttime raid last week. Three mature animals were taken from the farm of Anthony Flannery in the Knappogue area of Quin last week, with a further five animals managing to escape capture.
This is the third instance of cattle rustling to take place in Clare in recent month, sparking fears among farmers that an organised gang may have been responsible. The animals were taken from a locked field on June 13 last, between 2am and 4am.
According to the Clare chairperson of the IFA, Andrew Dundas, farmers are becoming more and more fearful that their animals will be stolen.
“The animals were stolen from a field with a locked gate, so they had to cut through the lock to gain access. The animals were herded into a holding pen in the field and five of the animals managed to knock the wall of the pen and break out,” said Andrew.
“The farmer is very distressed after this. These people came prepared to do this job. They certainly had transport and were organised.”
The stolen cattle were each one and a half-year-old limousins which could have reached between € 1,100 and € 1,500 at the mart. These animals will not be able to be sold at any mart in Ireland with their current tags and it is likely that the criminals will try to use tags taken from dead farm animals, who have not be disposed of legally.
“People are scared, I have been talking to the milk truck driver and he tells me that gates are locked that never used to be locked. There was a major theft in Bridgetown in March with 13 animals stolen from inside a shed,” continued Andrew.
“I also heard of a large number of calves stolen from out of a shed over in West Clare, so it is all over the county. We would appeal to anyone who may have heard something on that night to get in contact with the guards. These animals can be traced. If we can locate them, even with their tags taken off, we can trace the DNA and confirm that they are the right animals.”