The RCMP is a long way from delving into an investigation surrounding missing cattle belonging to four cattle co-operatives in southeastern Saskatchewan.
The case was launched in January when Saskatchewan Agriculture filed a complaint about the missing cattle with the Moosomin detachment of the RCMP, but little progress has been made.
Sgt. John Hodgson said the file is out of his hands
“I’ve sent the file off to our
major crimes unit in Yorkton, who in turn will, I think, send it off to commercial crimes (in Regina.)
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“But no decision has been made on that yet,” said Hodgson, who heads the Moosomin detachment.
From his preliminary investigation, Hodgson determined it would be a complicated case involving a significant time commitment. He passed the file on because it would interfere with him running the detachment.
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The case involves four co-ops participating in the province’s Livestock Loan Guarantee Program, which gives groups of cattle producers access to credit at favorable rates with limited collateral requirements.
The government uses the program to promote the cow/calf industry.
Somewhere between 1,500 and 1,800 head of cattle belonging to the Prosperity Cattle, Hilltop Beef, Cutarm Valley and Valley Livestock cattle co-ops are missing. The provincial government could be on the hook for 25 percent of the value of the loans involving those animals.
Hodgson said the exact number of missing cattle is hard to peg because it’s not known how many offspring some of the cows produced. It is also possible some of the missing cattle existed only on paper.
Hodgson said that will have to be unraveled by the specialized crime unit investigator who ends up with the case. He also said that investigator should be prepared for a lot of travel.
“There is some indication that because we live pretty close to the Manitoba border, some of the cattle may have gone over into Manitoba. Perhaps some of them went into Alberta. Maybe some of them even went into the States.”
Hodgson said he doesn’t know when “things will really get rolling,” but he expects to know which crime unit will end up with the file within two or three weeks.
