Cattle Rustling on the Rise

It’s one way to survive the recession: cattle rustling. According to The New York Times, cattle thieving is way up this year. Recently, 53 cows worth some $50,000 disappeared from Cleve, Missouri. In January, 41 cows disappeared from nearby Lawrence County. Earlier in March, 200 cows were stolen in Watertown, South Dakokta and 225 cattle were stolen in Wyoming in 2008, up from 90 in 2006. Says the sheriff in Green County, Missouri, where 93 cows have been stolen since October: “Usually we’ll go a year or two with no thefts, but it’s really picked up. In these economic times people are taking desperate measures, whether it’s stealing, or whether they’re trying to come up with money through insurance fraud.”