Cattle remains dumped on Gisborne beach

The head of an Angus cattle beast with a gunshot wound, found on Gisborne's Kaiti Beach near dumped internal organs, bore all the hallmarks of stock rustling.

It is another sign of the problem that costs farms around the Gisborne-East Coast district thousands of head of stock and hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.

Federated Farmers Gisborne Wairoa president Hamish Cave came across the grisly find on Tuesday afternoon and said it looked as if the remains had been dumped on high tide.

The head and offal were relatively fresh, he said.

The animal's ear-tag had been removed but a v-shaped mark cut out of its right ear could be the clue to finding its owner.

"If I saw a photo of that and it was mine, I'd be calling the police right away.''

Looking at its teeth, Mr Cave said it was a two-year-old bull or steer but he estimated it could have been a bit older by the amount of fat around its intestines.

An Angus cattle beast around this age is worth around $1000.

Tyre tracks on the sand leading to the remains also suggested the work of a stock rustler.

"The only way we are going to stop this is by everyone being vigilant,'' said Mr Cave.

Constable Tim Winchester confirmed it is a big problem and the large numbers taken indicate the rustlers are killing to sell.

"It's not just a couple to feed the family,'' he said.

The sole charge officer at Manutuke, a rural area on the outskirts of Gisborne, Constable Winchester said it cost farms in his locality a lot of money each year.

"That money can write off any profit they would make from their stock. When you look at it on those terms, yes it is a serious problem - especially when you get numbers of 10 to 20 going on a regular basis.

"The largest number I've had in one go was 30 and I regularly get numbers of between eight and 20."

This could equate to a loss to a farm of up to $20,000 in one night.

Mr Winchester has set up information lines for farmers in his area.

"I'm pretty reliant on my farmers and try to get them to ring in anything that is suspicious.

"That's how we caught the ones two weeks ago. A farmer heard his dogs barking, heard voices and called police right away.

"Up the East Coast you get the bigger numbers. I know larger numbers are being taken in Tolaga Bay and further north.''

A Ruatoria farm manager says it has been "open slather'' on his land and he loses hundreds of head of stock, which equate to tens of thousands of dollars, every year.

"A lot of farms that lose the amount of stock we do would have gone bankrupt.''

The manager of the 1800ha sheep and beef farm says they stay afloat because they do not have bank loans.

"We always work on our income. If we don't have much income, we don't have much work _ but we do suffer personally.

"Our last loss of stock was nine rams and the only thing rams are good for is dog tucker or sausage.''

Another farm lost 50 sheep the same weekend, he said.

"I'm not sure if they are killing to order or not, but there are a few shady butchers around the place. I don't think it's to feed themselves, because there is too much going on and it is on such a big scale.

"Off the grapevine I heard it is people trying to feed their P habits.''

The farm manager said he had also heard some farmers were involved and there needed to be more integrity.

"You do get calls from locals about strange vehicles but there's a lack of policing. You don't want to dial 111, you don't think it is that big a thing, but by the time the police come it is hours later.

"It's not the police's fault - they have to have their holidays and they have a big area to police.''

It was hard to keep track of cattle, he said.

"Some move the whole beast and you don't really notice they've been taken at all.

"They shoot them and quarter them into manageable parts, then move them in a vehicle.

"We've had problems with cattle being killed and processed in the hills and there are just skeletons left - no rotten carcasses.

"We report it to police but they cannot really do too much.

"Once they're gone, they're gone.''

Having more police visible on the roads would help, he said.

"They don't have to be there every day but once a week at different times - that would be a big help.

"The court system is very lenient on stock rustlers.

"Cattle beasts are $1000 each at the moment and offenders just get slapped on the hand. It is not treated like top priority,'' he said.

Public assistance is important in the fight against rustlers.

The "bloody suspicious'' sight of a large wooden gantry rigged for hanging animals in a suburban Gisborne backyard was reported to the police crimestoppers line late last year.

A delivery driver spotted it down a driveway when he was in the street. He grew up on a farm and to him it was a familiar sight - an endless chain and meat hook rigged on a large timber frame.

"I grew up surrounded by that sort of thing on the farm.

"I knew what I was looking at and it was odd to see it there - we used them all the time on the farm, I know what it's for.''

While it was possible it was built by a hunter for hanging deer or pigs, from its general location "it looked bloody suspicious.''

The health and safety aspect of having remains left on a public beach also causes concern.

One Kaiti Beach dog walker said dogs were attracted to the raw remains but eating them could make them very sick.

GDC animal control officer Steven Greaves said stock rustling and the dumping of carcasses was a continuing problem for the district.

- By Sophie Rishworth of the Gisborne Herald