[john and helen]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-27689183

[ZaktheLad]

That's very sad and especially as they are more than likely to end up slaughtered when inlamb.     

[Lesley Silvester]

That's awful. It does sound as if they have been stolen for their lambs though so they should be safe for now. I suppose one of the penalties of having such huge numbers is that you don't miss a few. Hope they can be traced and returned.

[Bramblecot]

An estimated 60,000 sheep were stolen Britain in 2013 .  Hardly a small crime?  Maybe it is just money to some people, but to owners of small flocks it is heart-breaking.

[Lesley Silvester]

That's a frighteningly large amount. It must be horrendous for the farmers. The one in the article obviously keeps very large flocks but it's still his livelihood and for those who just keep a few, it must be heart-breaking.

[john and helen]

i would have thought, if they where going to slaughter, wouldn't the tags flash up a warning..thats a lot of tags to either replace...

[AndynJ]

Possibly a dodgy slaughterhouse ? who knows

100 sheep that's quite some wonger

[madcat]

It's pretty horrible how many sheep are stolen . It just shouldn't happen but it does. I wonder if they're taken away for the illegal meat trade. There's the occasional news item about men caught selling lamb and mutton from the back of vans .

[pigalicious]

Unfortunately not only will it be most likely that the sheep will be passed through a dodgy slaughterhouse, it also only 20 days to the start of Ramadan, so quite likely that they will be slaughtered in a "back room" somewhere "traditional halal" style!

[Lesley Silvester]

I wish I thought you were wrong but I don't.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

I knew of someone who had a lot of sheep stolen, all pedigrees and another contractor recognized them and honed u the farmer and police and I think they caught the guy who stole them, but anyway the farmer recovered all of his sheep

[Lesley Silvester]

Good to hear they are recovered sometimes. Any news of the flock we were first talking about?

[Berkshire Boy]

What percentage of the 60,000 are just fraudulent claims. A neighbour of ours supposedly had 300 stolen, well you wouldn't get them in the back of a Landrover and no lorries came up our lane to cart them off.

[Katrina]

Sadly the sheep have never been found 

[plumseverywhere]

Awful     We had 'visitors' last week while my husband was away, the gates were left open (all sheep safely in situ as were the goats)  and my landrover had evidence of an attempted window jemmy.   Police came round to show a presence and we are upping our security this weekend (between festivals and gigs)  its a real worry - I'd rather have the landie nicked than the livestock for sure. (not that this is an open invitation of course  )