[Animals] Sunderland police seek sheep rustler leaving lambs in suburban gardens

[Mindsphere.]

 

Northumbria force and RSPCA baffled as to the motive behind three incidents in the last two weeks.

 

Police in Sunderland are looking for a person who has been stealing new-born lambs and leaving them in suburban gardens.

Residents have emerged from their homes three times in the last fortnight to find a lamb abandoned on their lawn after being taken from its mother in the night.

The RSPCA has collected each of the frightened animals and taken them to be looked after, but they have not been able to reunite them with their mothers because police have not managed to trace the farm they came from.

Amy Scollen, 28, who lives in Ryhope, discovered a lamb in her garden on 13 May, which she described as a “very weird morning”.

She said: “I don’t know how it got in my garden and I could hear it but couldn’t see it until I opened the door to grab the milk and it was staring me in the face.”

 

 

She called her mother, who in turn called Northumbria police. The force said the lamb was “distressed and was headbutting the fence, trying to get out of the garden” when officers arrived.

This was followed by two almost identical incidents over the next couple of weeks.

Heather Wade, an RSPCA rescue officer, attended one of the calls to find the lamb, which was too young to have been separated from its mother, cold and shivering.

“These little ones were only days old so were very vulnerable and would have been frightened to be away from their mum,” she said.

“I know the lambs could not have wandered into the gardens as they were enclosed so it suggests someone has deliberately done this and I have no idea why. Maybe they think it is some kind of joke.

“We are not sure where they have come from as there are no nearby farms, so we could not reunite them with their mum and they are now being hand-reared by a specialist.”

She is appealing for information to find the person responsible and urges anyone with information to call the RSPCA on 0300 123 8181.

“If anyone sees an animal in distress or is concerned for a baby animal then we would urge them to call our cruelty line for advice,” she said.

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