Fleeced

WINNIPEG -- He has taken counting sheep to a whole new level. Norman Goulet is camping out on his pasture near St. Claude, which plays home to hundreds of lambs and ewes in the summer. He hopes to thwart thieves who've stolen almost 2,000 of his animals over the last three years.

"It's just maddening," said Goulet from his home 90 km southwest of Winnipeg. "I hope to heck they finally quit. This is enough."

He discovered the latest theft Aug. 4, after thieves moved more than 640 sheep off his property. That morning, Goulet arrived at the pasture to find open gates, missing sheep and a spilled pail of grain.

A four-hour flock count determined 572 lambs and 71 ewes were missing.

Unfortunately, it was just the latest in a string of annual thefts that cut at least $40,000 off his profits last year and an expected $20,000 this year -- after insurance coverage, said Goulet.

"These last three years we haven't been getting ahead," he said. "The price for lamb is good but all our profits are stolen."

Last September, thieves drove through a wire fence to avoid chained and padlocked gates and stole 1,200 animals, he said. Another 100 lambs were nabbed in 2004.

"We'll lose money again this year because the price of lamb is excellent. It's never been better," said Goulet.

But it's just too difficult to monitor the 64-hectare pasture, located about 2.5 km from his home and surrounded by thick bush, without staying there, he said, suggesting the dense bush helps cover culprits as they lure the sheep with grain.

"Sheep are an animal that follow each other. If one goes, they all go. And we feed the sheep grains, so they will come to any vehicle."

Goulet thinks he didn't notice sheep were missing until the thieves had visited the pasture a few times, as there are too many to count regularly. Prior to the theft, the sheep farm had about 1,300 lambs and 750 ewes. Goulet has added a tall metal gate and blocked one pasture entrance to keep out intruders.

Treherne RCMP said lifting hundreds of animals may not be as difficult as it sounds.

"If it's in the rural area, there are large uninhabited areas," said Const. Fred Forest. "If somebody were to go around stealing cattle, I imagine they could do so undisturbed." Forest said the person responsible could do jail time if convicted.

Goulet hasn't spotted any attempted thefts since he began camping out with the sheep last week. He plans to sleep at the pasture this summer and the next.

"We can't afford to lose money every year. One of these days, they're going to clean us out completely," said Goulet.

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