Animal cruelty: Sheep stolen, left to die in Edenhope farm case

A thief locked more than 20 ewes in a shed to die while taking off with 39 lambs. The Victorian farmer shares his story.

Edenhope farmer James Williams has been the victim of livestock theft before, but the most recent attack on his sheep property really cut to the bone.

He not only had 39 lambs stolen, but lost 21 of his first-cross ewes after they were locked in the shearing shed and left to die.

Only seven sheep survived.

Mr Williams said he made the gruesome discovery last Saturday as he was on his way to crutch lambs.

“I went up to the shed and I found a dead sheep in the engine room.”

Not thinking too much of it, he continued on to the shearing shed.

“And that’s when I found carnage, there were dead sheep everywhere,” he said.

The cost of the stolen and deceased livestock alone totalled about $13,500, without taking into account potential earnings lost.

Mr Williams said it was lucky he didn’t have his children or anyone else with him that night.

“I can handle death in animals, but that personally really made me sick.

“I’ve never seen cruelty like that before in my life,” he said.

“I was furious — absolutely wild that they weren’t let out.”

Initial police reports estimate the incident happened between October 3 and October 10, meaning the ewes could have been stuck in the shed for up to a week.

Horsham Farm Crime Liaison Sergeant Simon Grant said the police would be reaching out to the community to help solve the crime.

“It’s a difficult crime to investigate given that it often occurs in remote locations, but I’m confident that someone will know something and we just need that little bit of information to investigate it further,” he said.

Mr Williams urged farmers to consider reporting any instance of livestock theft they experienced, and being super vigilant while out and about.

“We’ve all gotta drive around with our eyes open and maybe be a bit more suspicious,” he said.

“Even consider putting up cameras on paddocks that you don’t have eyes on.”

“My stock agent said to me when lamb prices went high, ‘you farmers will have 6-foot high fences’.”

“Now on Saturday after what I saw I thought Jesus he might be right,” he said.

Sgt Grant hoped the severity of this incident would ring alarm bells for farmers and encourage people to come forward with whatever information they had.

“There’s no excuse for any incident of animal cruelty — and it should spark outrage and not be tolerated in the farming community,” he said.

Anyone with information on this incident should contact Crimestoppers 1800 333 000.

Originally published as Animal cruelty: Sheep stolen, left to die in Edenhope farm case