Dartmoor becomes sheep rustling ‘Wild West'
Many farmers are said to be considering quitting the profession or bringing their flocks off the moors in Devon, where livestock has roamed for centuries, because rising thefts are costing them thousands of pounds.
Colin Abel said more than 400 of his ewes had disappeared this winter and estimated he has lost nearly £500,000 worth of livestock from his west Dartmoor farmland over the past decade.
He told the BBC: 'It's beginning to feel like the Wild West up here when it comes to sheep crime – it's soul-destroying.'
The national park is among the five worst areas in the country for sheep rustling.
Last year more than 1,300 sheep were reported stolen in Devon and Cornwall. Nearly 800 of the thefts – or 62 per cent – happened in west Dartmoor.
Stolen sheep can end up in other farmers' flocks, sold on the black market or illegally slaughtered in uncontrolled conditions before entering the food chain.
Mr Abel's family has run Lower Godsworthy Farm in Tavistock since 1888. He keeps his flock of Scotch Blackface and Welsh mountain sheep on the moor for nine-and-a-half months of the year.
However, the remote landscape of forests, rivers and wetlands makes them hard to keep an eye on and vulnerable to theft.
He said: 'It impacts financially and on the viability of the business. I know farmers who are thinking about whether they want to continue.'
Just seven miles east across the moor in Princetown, Neil Cole claims to have lost £7,000 in just one year after thieves targeted his flock of Scottish Blackface sheep.
He said: 'We turn out 220 lambs expecting to get 160 back – at £150 a lamb we're in the lap of the gods until we gather.'
Mr Cole added: 'The economics of keeping sheep on the moor is becoming harder and harder, so the younger generation aren't taking it on as much. I've heard farmers say they are ready to give up ... the sheep are important for the ecology of the moor.
'It's not the sort of thing you can steal if you don't have the knowledge. It is causing divisions in the community.'
Martin Beck, who was appointed in 2024 as the UK's first national livestock theft specialist police officer, said that tracking stolen sheep was challenging.
In the last five years, there have been no prosecutions for sheep theft in Devon and Cornwall.
Mr Beck, who is based in Devon, called for 'more investment and training in rural policing and technology' to help tackle the issue.
Some farmers have turned to technology like satellite trackers and digital ear tags to deter thieves, but for many such costs are unaffordable alongside the existing financial challenges of farming.
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