|
Duanne Fuquay, an Investigator for the
Comanche County Sheriff’s Office, reported recently that cattle
thieves are active again in Comanche County.
“I’m working one case that involves the
far northwestern corner of the county,” Fuquay said, “and then I’ve
got other cases that involve the southwestern part of the county.
There was a lady who went to feed her cows, last week, who found five
of them penned-up. I imagine someone planned to come back for them.”
According to Fuquay, that has been
standard operating procedure for thieves in the past.
“The last group of cattle thieves we had,
were in the habit of going and penning them up, and coming back for
them later at night,” he said.
Although Fuquay said there was no one he
could call a suspect at this time, the Sheriff’s Office was “looking
at several different people.”
While the investigation continues, Fuquay
said there are some safety measures that cattle owners can take.
“The most useful thing that people can do
is brand their cows,” Fuquay said. “Ear tags are very, very easy to
take off, and I can’t use an ear tag number to find stolen cattle. The
only thing that I can use for that is the brand, or if I have the name
of the person who sold it, which, of course, in most cases, I’m not
going to. Right now, the cases that we’ve got are mostly unbranded
calves. It seems like they’re pretty good at cutting out unbranded
stock, from the branded ones, so everybody needs to go out and brand
everything they’ve got.”
He also recommends checking on cows as
often as possible. “And count them and keep track of them,” he added.
Fuquay encourages anyone who spots
suspicious activity to call the Sheriff’s Office. “We would like to
know, of course, if anyone goes to feed their cows, and finds some of
them penned up that shouldn’t be. Also, it would be helpful if anyone
sees someone towing a livestock trailer at night if they could call
and let us know.” He noted that a description of the vehicle would be
helpful, as would a license plate number.
To report any suspicious activity call
the Sheriff’s Office at 325-356-7533 or call 911. |
