POLICE are urging rural residents to be vigilant after ten lambs were stolen from a field.

Officers say the ten Texel lambs were stolen sometime in the last week from a property on the B6161 Otley Road near Beckwithshaw in the Harrogate area. They were not tagged or marked.

Police say they are receiving increasing reports of sheep thefts, ranging from one or two sheep stolen to trailer-loads. It is believed some of the stolen livestock will be killed straight away in the illegal meat trade.

Inspector Jon Grainge, of North Yorkshire Police’s Rural Taskforce, said: “Over recent years, North Yorkshire Police and surrounding rural forces have taken an increasing number of reports relating to the theft of sheep.

“The rural taskforce has been focusing on this problem, and we have identified that sheep have been stolen, often in ones and twos, sometimes in trailer-loads.

“Some will be destined almost immediately for the illegal meat trade, while others are ‘hidden’ in open view in fields and barns across a wide geographic area.

“The difficulty with the nature of this crime is that it is not necessarily immediately obvious to farmers, who may only be able to identify their shortfall at the time of bringing sheep in to scan or to worm, which often gives a very wide timeframe for us to work with.

“Lines of enquiry are limited, and this is where we need the public’s help to call in suspicious movements of animals, or animals appearing in fields unexpectedly.”

If you can provide any information which may help officers, call North Yorkshire Police on 101, quoting reference; NYP-16072017-0428.