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Canterbury police are worried about the rising number of cases involving thieves removing copper cabling from farm irrigation systems.
Rural area commander, Inspector Peter Cooper, said an increasing number of cases have been reported of copper cabling being removed from centre pivot and lateral irrigation systems.
“Our enquiries have identified 12 occurrences across Swannanoa, West Eyreton, Fernside, Oxford and Darfield,” Cooper said in a statement.
The thieves are targeting farms with pivot irrigators and stripping copper wire from the expensive equipment to sell.
“Current reported losses exceed $130,000, excluding labour, contractor attendance, irrigation downtime and other consequential losses.
“Offenders appear to be targeting copper power and control cabling from centre pivot irrigators for financial gain.
“Most irrigators remain dormant throughout winter and are not routinely inspected so victims are only now discovering damage, and reporting it.
“As people are inspecting and recommissioning irrigators for the coming season, we encourage anyone who notices damage to make a report to us.”
Irrigation specialist Waterforce Rangiora branch manager Andrew Panasiuk said on Wednesday the thefts used to be relatively rare. But they had been happening on and off since December last year.
He said many of the irrigators were operated remotely or had automatic timers — meaning there's no warning before they turn on or move.
"We're now entering a phase where the machines are running and if these thieves continue, they're gonna get a shock - literally - and you know someone could get killed,” Panasiuk told RNZ.
"They're taking their lives into their own hands. They're walking out on these machines 3 or 4 metres above the air - presumably in the dark.
"It's very dangerous the work that they're doing. Like I say, it's very easy for someone to get killed with this voltage we're that we're talking."
One farmer spoken to by RNZ said the thefts made him feel "anxious" and "angry".
He had been targeted and said it was frustrating. He was still working on an insurance claim so did not know the final cost of the repairs.
"They're integral to what we do," he said.
"The inconvenience is one factor, the cost of replacing the cable is another.
"But the real problem for us looms in the fact that here in Canterbury we simply can't grow grass through summer if these irrigators aren't running every day."
- Anyone with information about the thefts should call the police on 105 or make a report at police.govt.nz/use-105.
-Allied Media