Advertisement

Norwegian farmers suspect sheep thieves after unexplained disappearances

The Local Norway
The Local Norway - [email protected]
Norwegian farmers suspect sheep thieves after unexplained disappearances
File photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen/NTB Scanpix

Farmers in Norway’s Aust-Agder region suspect sheep thieves are on the loose after several of the animals disappeared without any natural cause.

Advertisement

The sheep farmers fear the sheep have been shot and then stolen, reports broadcaster NRK.

Farmer Sivert Svane, who has lost three of his flock, told the broadcaster that he had reported the suspected thefts.

“Last Sunday I heard a lot of noise that suggests someone has been in to take the animals. Shots have been heard in the area,” he said.

The fence around Svane’s property was intact but the animals had disappeared, he told NRK.

“We have reported it to the police, and they said they were interested in following developments,” he said.

Svane is not the only farmer to have had sheep vanish.

Farmers on Aust-Agder’s archipelago have seen their sheep ‘fished’ away using fishing equipment, the farmer told NRK.

Another farmer from the area told the broadcaster that he had recently found a sheep with its legs bound for transportation, as well as a lamb with a large fishing hook attached to it.

“We have found several animals with fishing hooks in their wool… This is clearly a deliberate action by people,” Jens Eide, a butcher from Lillesand, told NRK.

READ ALSO: Mystery of ‘kidnapped' Norwegian sheep

Several farmer owners in the area have reported animals to have disappeared with any natural explanation, Svane said.

The leader of the local association of sheep and goat farmers said it was “concerned” about the disappearances.

“This is very unusual for us, but we are hoping the police will take care of it,” Kåre Blålid told NRK.

Sheep theft in Norway is not a new phenomenon.

70 animals were stolen from a flock in Jæren in 2010, while man in his 40s was arrested earlier this year for stealing 20 sheep in the Hemsedal region, reports NRK.

READ ALSO: Sheep poo makes Norwegian cyclists sick

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also