Mystery of how someone stole 1400 cattle worth $2 million
The alleged theft of around $2 million worth of cattle from a Northern Territory station has sparked renewed calls from pastoralists for the reinstatement of a stock squad.
More than 1,400 head of cattle have been reported stolen from Murranji Station, 700 kilometres south-east of Darwin near Daly Waters.
The theft is believed to have occurred over a number of months.
The Pickersgill family purchased the 447,500-hectare property in March, with 12,500 Brahman-cross cattle guaranteed as part of the sale.
But when the family completed an extensive bangtail muster of the entire property, stock numbers came up short.
“There’s 1,456 branded cattle missing, and there are also the unbranded weaners that would’ve been on those cattle,” Kevin Pickersgill said.
“There probably would have been 800 head of weaners that we’re missing as well, so I’m thinking it’s in the vicinity of $2 million worth of stock.”
Pickersgill believes the cattle theft started prior to the purchase of the property but it has continued since the station changed hands.
The family has offered a reward of up to $250,000 for information that assists with the police investigation.
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“We just can’t allow this to go unchallenged,” Pickersgill said.
“It’s quite a large lump of money so if someone knows or has heard of anything, there’s potential there for them to claim some of that reward.”
Pickersgill said he was not holding out hope of seeing many of the cattle again.
“There’s every chance the majority of these cattle are long gone, or on a boat, or dead,” he said.
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