26 sheep missing from Steytlerville farm

Twenty-six merino sheep were allegedly stolen from a farm on the outskirts of Steytlerville during the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Police spokesperson Captain Gerda Swart said the owner realised 31 of his sheep were missing at about 9am on Wednesday.

Swart said when they started to investigate the missing sheep, five of them were found on a neighbouring farm.

“It is alleged that the sheep were herded to a neighbouring farm that is situated 15km from Steytlerville on the R329.

"The legs of the five sheep were tied up and it appears that they were loaded onto getaway vehicles.”

“There is no signs of blood and it appears that they were stolen while still alive,” she said.

The estimate value of the sheep is more than R46,000.

Acting Uitenhage Cluster Commander Brigadier Ronald Koll  discouraged residents from buying any stolen stock.

“If you are caught with these stolen sheep you will be arrested for being in possession of stolen property,” he warned.

“All owners of the animals have to keep identification documents which have to be given to the purchaser of any livestock at the time. This document must be kept for 12 months.

"In addition, all the livestock must be marked and branded to ensure that they can be identified by authorities.”