Police seize flock of 'stolen' sheep from field near Thirsk

A flock of 63 sheep has been seized by police who believe the animals may have been stolen.

The sheep, of varying ages and breeds, were found in a field close to Thirsk, North Yorkshire.

Officers suspect the animals may have been stolen and want to hear from anyone who has lost livestock over the last 12 months.

North Yorkshire Police has urged landowners or farmers come forward with details about lost stock.

Farmers Weekly reports that livestock thefts are now worth millions of pounds each year.

Rural insurer NFU Mutual said that animal theft claims had risen 3.7% to £2.5m in 2018.

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Tim Price, from NFU Mutual, said: "Farmers and country people are suffering from high levels of anxiety due to repeated thefts by gangs who take advantage of farms' isolated locations to steal machinery, raid tool stores and even butcher sheep in the fields.

"In a single generation, country people have seen rural crime change from the opportunist theft of a single lamb, to brazen heists of tractors worth over £100,000 and rustlers stealing hundreds of sheep."

The county's police and crime commissioner Julia Mulligan previously spoke to BBC News about the impacts of livestock thefts.

She said: "Farmers spend decades building up bloodlines and investing in their flock, and then overnight all that can be taken from them."