POLICE are urging people in rural areas to be vigilant after ten lambs were stolen from a field in North Yorkshire.

Some time in the last week, ten Texel lambs, who were not tagged or marked, were taken from a property on the B6161 Otley Road near Beckwithshaw, close to Harrogate, North Yorkshire Police said.

Inspector Jon Grainge, of the force's Rural Taskforce, said: "Over recent years, North Yorkshire Police and surrounding rural forces have taken an increasing number of reports relating to the theft of sheep.

"The Rural Taskforce has been focusing on this problem, and we have identified that sheep have been stolen, often in ones and twos, sometimes in trailer-loads. Some will be destined almost immediately for the illegal meat trade, while others are ‘hidden’ in open view in fields and barns across a wide geographic area.

"The difficulty with the nature of this crime is that it is not necessarily immediately obvious to farmers, who may only be able to identify their shortfall at the time of bringing sheep in to scan or to worm, which often gives a very wide timeframe for us to work with. Lines of enquiry are limited, and this is where we need the public’s help to call in suspicious movements of animals, or animals appearing in fields unexpectedly.

Phone North Yorkshire Police with information about the theft on 101. Quote NYP-16072017-0428.