An English sheep farmer was horrified to find a pair of “Asian” men slitting the throat of a pregnant ewe in broad daylight near a public footpath.
“It is a big 120-acre field and the sheep were running towards us, as if there was a dog in with them,” said farmer Adam Neachell, who tends his land and livestock in Aldridge in the West Midlands, in comments to Farmers Weekly.
Neachell reported racing towards the source of the commotion with one of his workers on a quad bike, only to discover one of his in-lamb ewes dying as a result of two men having cut her throat.
“The men were Asian, aged about 25-30 and wearing dark clothing,” the sheep farmer said of the attackers, who “ran off” as he and his worker approached.
“It is a weird planet where this sort of thing happens when people are around,” said the shocked farmer — who discovered the crime at 11:30 in the morning, near a public footpath used by people passing through the field every day.
“I know of other farmers who have had similar incidents but we have seen safe from that until now,” Neachell lamented, estimating that the cruel killing of the ewe and her unborn lambs had inflicted a loss of around £400 on the farm.
“The police have been brilliant. I have been really impressed with the way they have dealt with this,” he added — although there is as yet no indication that they have managed to make any arrests.