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Rustlers threaten ancient way of life - and sow suspicion on the moors

This article is more than 17 years old
Countryside so wild that only neighbours could be behind thefts, locals believe

For hundreds of years they have roamed free over the hills, chomping away at the tough moorland vegetation and hunkering down in the lee of granite tors or sheltering next to the stone walls when the gales sweep in.

But the hill sheep of Dartmoor are under serious threat, not from the harsh climate, but from a new breed of determined and skilful sheep rustler.

Hill farmers say flocks are becoming the target of thieves who manage to spirit away the animals from the heart of the Devon moor from places up to five miles from the nearest road.

The sheep are thought to be removed by lorry to illegal slaughterhouses and eventually on into the fridges of butchers and fast-food shops.

These Dartmoor sheep could not be easily replaced as they are "hefted" or "leared", meaning that, through breeding and nurture, they possess a characteristic "homing instinct" to their patch, making a certain part of the moor their home - a feature that allows farmers to keep them unfenced and to easily locate them.

Impossible

Police admit that they face an almost impossible task in patrolling the moor's 400 square miles. Last week, in frustration, farmers offered a reward for the capture of the rustlers. But already some hill farmers have been hit so badly they have stopped turning their sheep out.

A lack of grazing by sheep could have an environmental impact on Dartmoor, altering its features. And the social effect of the thefts has been to engender a sense of suspicion among the villages at the edge of Dartmoor, fed by a growing belief that the thieves must be local.

"I could have bought him a pint in the pub last night," said Edward Bellamy, a fourth-generation hill farmer still seething at the loss of a third of his flock. "It's making us all look at one another and wonder 'is it you?'" Mr Bellamy's sheep potter around Flat Tor in the middle of one of the most isolated parts of Dartmoor. When he last brought his flock in he found that 90 of the black-faced sheep were missing.

"I think it must be someone local. I think someone must see us at the market and get on the phone to his mates. It's got to be people who know what they are doing - a couple of men, probably on quad bikes, with good dogs. I reckon the sheep are killed locally and then stuck in the back of a transit van and carted off to a kebab shop in Birmingham or wherever."

Mr Bellamy, 48, said his family had farmed sheep on Dartmoor since the time of his great grandfather.

Sheep stealing here was historically known as the "Dartmoor tax", but the flocks are smaller now so the losses are harder to bear.

"You can't cope with this sort of loss," said Mr Bellamy. "You can't just replace them. Because they are hefted they stay in the same place. The ewes teach the lambs where they can get shelter in bad weather and, in time, they pass it on to their offspring. These sheep are also used to Dartmoor, to the harsh weather and the deficiencies in minerals. And once those characteristics have gone, they've gone forever. These hardy breeds could die out here."

Members of the Forest of Dartmoor Commoners' Association graze sheep, cattle and ponies on 11,331 hectares (28,000 acres) of the moor. Under the government's environmentally sensitive area scheme, farmers are paid to graze a certain number of animals to help maintain the moor.

Blowtorch

Colin Abel, 38, the chairman of the commoners' association, estimates that 800 sheep, a 10th of the entire flock on the moor, was taken from the Forest of Dartmoor common last year. Mr Abel and his two brothers lost 300 sheep, from a part of the moor around Fur Tor, miles from any road.

The reason why the thieves are not spotted, said Mr Abel, is probably "because it's someone local so you think they are just going about their business". He added: "It might also be they are coming in on moonlit nights when it's pretty much like daylight out there."

The problem is not confined to Dartmoor. In mid-Wales an estimated 8,000 sheep have been taken in the past two years. Much of the livestock ends up, farmers think, being turned into smokies, a delicacy in some west African and Caribbean communities that is produced by scorching the hide of a sheep carcase with a blowtorch.

Kevin Reed, a constable with Devon and Cornwall police, said officers were being encouraged to stop livestock trucks moving around the area at "odd times". He said: "Policing such a huge area does have its problems and the farmers are aware of that. It's a matter of working with them, they are our eyes and ears."

Mr Bellamy is not convinced the thieves will be caught soon. "And if they are what will they get? A little fine or an asbo? In the old days they used to hang them. If hanging was still around they'd think twice."

FAQ: Moorland sheep

Why are the Dartmoor sheep unique?

The Scottish blackface, Swaledale, Welsh mountain, and whitefaced are tough breeds that adapt well to whatever conditions they face and learn to stick to a certain area of moor

Can they be swapped for other sheep?

The farmers say the sheep are the outcome of years of breeding, and that other kinds would just wander off. If the herd numbers drop the farmers lose their grant money

Why are the sheep stolen?

The market price for the sheep is only between £15 and £20 a head. But it is suspected that many of the stolen animals are turned into the delicacy known as smokies, where hide is illegally scorched to recreate the taste of mutton roasted outdoors on a spit. A vanload of smokies can be worth £15,000.

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