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Thieves have stolen about 670 pigs from Gunma Prefecture farms since the beginning of July. According to Gunma Prefectural Police, there have been at least seven such thefts at pig farms in Maebashi, Ota and Isesaki cities.
Police said that the stolen animals were worth about 20 million yen, Fuji TV reported. A spokesman for Japan Agricultural Cooperatives in Maebashi said that about 180 pigs were taken from five farms that use simple, unit-type infrastructure for their pig barns. All the thefts occurred at night.
In addition, there have been three cases in Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture, where calves from dairy farms were stolen between June and August. According to Ashikaga police, six calves―including a two-week-old Japanese black cattle breed―with a total market value of 2.75 million yen ― were stolen over the summer.
© Japan Today
18 Comments
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ADK99
The police are on it - sooner or later someone will squeal.
rgcivilian1
Stealing them is one thing, but raising the prices on consumers will be another thing for a slight shortage that has nothing to do with consumers being responsible for the pigs aside buying quality pork.
moonbloom
These are not isolated instances nor are they simple operations and have the fingerprints of organized crime all over it.
Marcus Clarke
Wow, someone is really bringing home the bacon.
Mr Kipling
It could just be insurance fraud and someone is telling porkies?
Sorry....
Mark
And NO squealing??? Just Unbelievable.
Hiro
The African Swine Fewer is still rampaging in china and making pork very expensive now. There is now a high demand for pork everywhere. I can in these kind of difficult times that people are trying to make profits out of this business. Black markets in pigs. I hope the police find them. Maybe the farmers should breed some guard dogs.
nandakandamanda
Japanese farmers are defenseless against wild animals and thieves.
Brian Wheway
Who would steel these pigs? rotten swines! as for cows, has a few of them died on the farm? I bet the farmer is milking the insurance! the police spokes man said they are looking into the theft of the sheep, but they don't have anything to go on. has the police checked the local abattoir/ they must have a record of what has gone through the place, if there is a discrepancy they should be able to find something. in the UK sheep, cows have an identity tag does Japan have a similar system for track and trace for hygiene and food standards?
kurisupisu
Where will the thieves keep 670 squealing pigs?
simon g
in freezers in shrinkwrap bags.
Wesley
HiroToday 08:36 pm JST
*The African Swine Fewer is still rampaging in china and making pork very expensive now. There is now a high demand for pork everywhere. I can in these kind of difficult times that people are trying to make profits out of this business.*
Good point!
FizzBit
There really should be some way to stop this. Somebody should start trading dogs. They could call them “guard dogs”.
Breaking!
Next year at the Tokyo Tech Expo, new robotic guard dogs!
woof! Woof! My names rags. Please put down those pigs.
Maria 'Bing' Velasquez Reid
I am so disappointed to see this news as I am a fan of Japan. I have always thought it's the only country I have visited where things we forget around while visiting we are assured to get back.
With that many animals, they should be able to find them.
CDNinJapan
The thieves will be caught eventually. You reap what you sow.
Toshihiro
How can you even steal that many animals without getting caught? And where will you store that many animals without anyone noticing? I'm imagining that butchering all of them would take more than a night's worth of work. My thoughts for these farmers that get robbed of their livelihood.
shogun36
Well, time to get them surveillance cameras up and shotguns loaded, this is about to get rowdy.