Overview
- In the latest case near the village of Grano, thieves took about 30 cattle overnight by opening pasture gates and loading the herd onto a truck.
- Across three incidents in recent weeks, roughly 150 animals have vanished, including 48 in Raddusch and about 70 in the Elbe-Elster district, with losses reaching into six figures.
- South Brandenburg’s criminal police are analyzing traces such as tire marks and are exchanging information with counterparts in Poland.
- Farm leaders say the scale points to professional crews using specialized livestock trucks, and they note that ear tags and animal passports make legal slaughter in Germany unlikely.
- Agriculture and interior ministers plan on-site talks with affected farms, while the farmers’ association urges more patrols, camera systems, and reports of unknown vehicles; earlier unsolved thefts in Thuringia show how hard these cases are to crack.