A farmer from Co Sligo has reported 74 sheep missing. Michael Seery, a beef and sheep farmer from the Clonacool area of Sligo, put his sheep out on Loughill, Carnaleck and Kilcummin mountains last December. All of his sheep have a distinctive red mark on their shoulder.

Michael said when he puts them on the mountain, he does not usually look at them until the middle of February, but he did check some of them in early January and there was none taken at that stage.

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When he went out in mid-February to pick them up, he brought some in but there was still a significant number missing. He spent a number of days searching the mountains which have a combined area of 4,600 acres before reporting them missing to the gardaí on 9 March.

Michael acknowledges that it is possible some of the sheep may have died in the snow and that “sheep are lost every year, regardless of how well you look after them”. A few other people in the area are missing sheep, but nobody is missing as many as him, leading him to believe that they were stolen.

While they would be worth €80 to €100 each to buy in the mart, Michael says the sheep are worth a lot more to him, as they are used to the mountains and all know where to go to eat. Also, they are nearly all in-lamb.

Although there are few signs of disturbances on the mountains themselves, one of the roads leading up to it is marked, by a vehicle which appears to have tried to cover up its tracks.

While he hasn’t heard much about his sheep for a number of weeks, Michael was recently offered a glimmer of hope when he heard from someone in Mountbellew, Co Galway, which is over 60km away, who found five mountain sheep in a field, two of which had already lambed and another three which are yet to lamb.

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