The Rural Voice, 2001-06, Page 20Keeping the co.,, home.
A new police
unit targets
ac ricul turall y
fa t e d
t was an early April morning
when Michael Baes drove into the
dairy farm he owns with his
father near Mitchell. His headlights
shone on the calf hutchs where four
two-week old calves were housed.
However this morning the chains
were dangling without the calves
attached.
Alarmed, Baes ran to the house and
woke his hired hand who said the
calves were still there when he left
the barn the night before. Baies
called his father to see if he had
moved the calves, then searched
around the barn in case they had
escaped. Sometimes one calf escapes
from the hutchs but four is nearly
impossible, Baes said.
After a while he gave up and called
police. Police concluded that in the
middle of the night Baes' calves had
been stolen. He was another victim
in a string of cattle thefts in the area.
The cattle thefts started at the
beginning of January, when four
calves were stolen out of the hutchs
near Stratford. In March there were
another three stolen from a Stratford
area farm. Then in the first 10 days
of April three farms were hit, 32
cattle went missing, all close to
Stratford. In total 14 Holstein calves
16 THE RURAL VOICE
and 26 Holstein cov,, %trent missin_c.
valued at approximately $28,500.
The Perth County Crime Stoppers
put out an alert warning farmers.
"If you hear something go bump in
the middle of the night, don't turn
over and go back to sleep, go check it
out," said Paul McComb, Crime
Stoppers co -coordinator
After the public alert there were no
more calves stolen. The culprits had
heard the alert and were too scared to
try anything else, McComb believes.
Police think the cattle were sold for
meat as none have been recovered.
Graeme Hedley has worked at the
Ontario Cattlemen's Association for
30 years. Over his time there he's
seen every type of cattle rustling
from cows being stolen out of fields,
feedlots and barns. He's seen
horrible things, like cows shot in
fields and parts of their carcasses
being stolen.
The Rural and Agricultural Crime
Team (RACT) was set up in early
February of this year to deal with
crimes exactly like these. The group
specializes in crimes 'that are
agriculturally related like theft, break
and enter and mischief.
When a crime is committed a
regular officer is sent to the crime
scene. If the need assistance in
solving the crime then the officer
contacts RACT. There are five
investigators, one detective constable
and a civilian stenographer assigned
full-time to RACT. RACT, a
provincially run group, covers the
area from Windsor to Tobermory and
east to Guelph. Officers are located
in Chatham, Mount Forest and
Oxford County.
Hedley, the executive vice-
president for the Cattlemen's
Association, tells farmers to
put a padlock on the barn door, the
feedlot chutes and gates to the
pasture. He also warns farmers to
always be aware of unfamiliar
vehicles that are hanging around.
With these vehicles write down the
license plates or call police. Hedley
said if cows are in a remote location
then a farmer should ask neighbours
to keep an eye on the field.
Detective Constable Bruce Angel,
who is located in Mount Forest, said
RACT's main goal is to prevent
agriculturally related crimes. The
group is responsible to make the
public aware of the crimes. If cattle
are stolen RACT would contact
groups like the Cattleman's
Association, who can warn stock
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