The trail is growing colder as police try to find out who stole more than 1,500 sheep from a Manitoba farm family last month.
The sheep, valued at about $200,000, were stolen from Norman Goulet and his parents during the Labour Day weekend in early September.
Goulet and his parents farm near St. Claude in central Manitoba. He said police have a couple of possible leads, including descriptions from area residents of two unfamiliar vehicles driving around the area in the days before the thefts.
A neighbour also gave police a description of the driver of one of the vehicles, a black Jeep. A sketch was made from that description and shown to Goulet last week.
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“I’ve never seen the fella in my life,” said Goulet Oct. 17. “I don’t know who he is.”
Goulet discovered the theft of almost 1,200 lambs and ewes from his farm on Sept. 4 when he visited the pasture where they were kept.
The following day it was learned that 309 lambs and 55 ewes were also missing from his parents’ farm.
Police have reports from witnesses who saw two cattle liners turn onto a gravel road near St. Claude the night of Oct. 3.
The Goulets had insurance on the sheep. Norman said they settled with the insurance company last week.
“We get market value on them. It’s no hell but at least we’ll stay in business.”
This was the second time that Goulet and his parents were the victims of a sheep theft. Last winter, 110 sheep were stolen from his feedlot and 160 went missing from his parents’ farm.
He said people in the area have become much more vigilant.
“Everybody’s watching. If these guys aren’t caught, I would imagine there’s a better chance than not that they’ll try something again somewhere.”
Goulet is contemplating what other measures he might take to make his livestock more secure. He now has corral gates with locks and is considering an alarm system and possibly cutting out the approaches to his pasture to make it more difficult for trucks to get in.
