Rustlers!

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Foraging for livestock

In recession-plagued Michigan some people are living high off the hog, not to mention the cow, the sheep and even the horse. As food prices rise and unemployment lines grow longer, rustlers have declared open season on livestock. Complains State Representative Richard Fitzpatrick, whose home turf in south-central Michigan has been hard hit: "People just rent themselves a UHaul, find a farm at night, open a fence and get a cow."

State officials put livestock losses by Michigan farmers at $614,000 in 1980, a 50% increase over 1979. In the first six months of 1981 the toll was already at $571,310. To curb rustling, Fitzpatrick has introduced legislation that would require farmers to brand and register cattle as well as other livestock, making it easier to trace stolen animals. Meanwhile, some farmers have taken to patrolling their fields at night, armed with bright lights, shotguns and resolve.

Police believe that most of the thefts are by petty criminals who sell the animals at local auctions. But there is evidence that an increasing number of rustlers are hungry householders who drive out from cities to poach meat for the family freezer. "In many cases, the animals are butchered right in the field," says Ron Gaskill of the Michigan Farm Bureau. "They kill a hog and just cut off the hindquarters. What they want is meat."