More than 130 lambs have gone missing near Wanaka in a suspected case of sheep-rustling.
Wanaka police are appealing for any information that people may have regarding the disappearance of the $10,000 flock of lambs from an Albert Town farm block.
Detective Dave Evans said the lambs would have fitted on a stock truck.
"We have no idea where or how they've left the block of land," Det Evans said.
Wanaka man Stacey Anderson leases an 800ha farm block bordered by the Clutha River, State Highway 6 - from the one-lane Albert Town bridge - and the Dublin Bay road.
Mr Anderson said rabbit-shooters often crossed the block and mountain bikers rode a 4WD track through the property.
He hoped one of them might have seen something.
A mob of 1150 lambs had been held in the paddocks for fattening since mid-January.
They were mustered yesterday and a head count was 130 lambs down on the original numbers, he said.
Apart from a broken Taranaki gate in the back part of the farm block, there was little evidence to suggest where the lambs had gone, Mr Anderson said.
However, his neighbour had also had stock go missing after a deer fence was cut and 18 deer vanished from a paddock.
The missing lambs are mixed-sex Romney, Texel, and Dorset cross-breeds.
