Abattoirs alerted after rustlers steal 105 sheep

An alert has gone to abattoirs and livestock markets for a gang of rustlers which stole 105 sheep.

There were 80 lambs in the €10,000 flock driven from a field in a truck on a rented farm at Grayfield near Gurteen, Co Sligo, at the weekend.

Owner Brian Barber, from Grange, Co Sligo, has offered a minimum €1,000 for information leading to the recovery of the sheep.

Gardaí are looking for witnesses who may have seen the truck in the area or noticed other suspicious behaviour. Rustlers and farm machinery thieves have targeted the Gurteen/Ballymote area a number of times in recent months.

The rustlers tried to conceal their theft of the sheep between 10pm on Friday and 10am Sunday. They cut through the lock of the gate from the road, drove their truck up to the sheep and loaded 105 aboard.

They left 180 sheep on the land and replaced the damaged lock with an identical one before leaving — but the tracks of their truck’s wheels remained.

Mr Barber said: “I went to the farm to make a regular check [on Sunday] and my key wouldn’t open the lock.

“I then realised what had happened, that it had been replaced, and that’s when my suspicions were raised that something was amiss.”

He thought it was possible the sheep were in a rustler’s field until “the dust dies down” before they were slaughtered or sold.

The stolen sheep, a cross of cheviots and Mayo horned ewes, were marked with three red spots on their left — one across the shoulder, one in the middle rib cage, and the third on the hip. They also had a red stroke down the front shoulder on the right.

While the markings may have faded on the lambs as their wool grew they would have been clearer on the older sheep.

Mr Barber said: “I have notified every abattoir and market across Ireland.

“I would also appeal to people for help if they noticed a sudden appearance of extra sheep on a neighbour’s farm.”

* Gardaí at Ballymote have asked witnesses to contact them at 071 9189500.