A farmer in Lincolnshire is outraged after one of his sheep was stolen and subsequently butchered in a horrifying incident on an estate in Grimsby. Richard Leeson, a farmer from nearby Caistor, conveyed that the ewe was abducted on Good Friday not long after it had lambed. According to purported CCTV footage, individuals can be seen forcibly removing the living sheep from a vehicle and into a residence.
Leeson depicted the event as ‘astonishingly savage’. Initial conjecture on social media suggested a human body was implicated, however, the police promptly identified the form as a sheep. Lincolnshire Police are treating the occurrence as a case of theft and receiving stolen goods, although no suspects have been apprehended yet.
Leeson maintains that those involved should be prosecuted for animal cruelty. He described the event as ‘intensely distressing and brutal’ for the animal. These unfortunate events underscore an alarming increase in the theft of livestock. NFU Mutual statistics indicate a £2.7 million loss throughout the UK in 2023 due to livestock theft.
This article has been produced by The Lincoln Post using the original reporting from the BBC.
