Old Cattle Crime Rears Its Head Again

There are no thundering hoofs, clouds of dust or bandits disguised in bandanas and sporting six shooters, but the Old West crime of cattle theft is still very much alive in Texas and other areas of the nation. It remains a profitable business for criminals and devastating for a small operation. Law enforcement says East Texas is the hottest spot for cattle thieves with more thefts annually than other parts of the state. When many citizens think of cattle rustling, they think of a good-old John Wayne western, where the good guy not only gets the bad guy and recovers the cattle, but also lands the girl and heroically rides into the sunset. They do not think of prolific crime occurring today resulting in losses of millions of dollars each year or of the special group of lawmen who investigate cattle theft and track thieves using high tech computers and forensic science. In a two-story office building in downtown Fort Worth, Larry Gray, director of the Texas Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association's Law Enforcement and Livestock Identification programs, heads special investigators who seek thieves and recover cattle across Texas and Oklahoma. Gray said the TSCRA has 28 livestock special rangers and theft investigators, stationed throughout Texas and Oklahoma. Trained in all areas of law enforcement, they combine knowledge of the cattle industry with modern methods to locate missing cattle. Gray added his agency recovered more than $3 million in livestock and equipment stolen from Texas farms and ranches in 2007. Figures for 2008 are not available. Gray said he did not know how much remains missing. He explained that many thefts are not reported to his agency. These thefts are investigated by other law enforcement or not reported...Tyler Morning Telegraph