title: Some facts and issues related to livestock theft in Punjab province of Pakistan --findings of series of cases.
abstract: Stock theft is an endemic crime particularly affecting deep rural areas of Pakistan. Analysis of a series of cases was conducted to describe features of herds and farmers who have been the victims of cattle and/buffalo theft in various villages of Punjab in Pakistan during the year 2012. A structured interview was administered to a sample of fifty three affected farmers. The following were the important findings: i) incidents of theft were more amongst small scale farmers, ii) the rate of repeat victimization was high, iii) stealing was the most common modus operandi, iv) the majority of animals were adult, having high sale values, v) more cases occurred during nights with crescent moon, vi) only a proportion of victims stated to have the incident reported to the police, vii) many farmers had a history of making compensation agreements with thieves, viii) foot tracking failed in the majority of the cases, ix) all the respondents were willing to invest in radio frequency identification devices and advocated revision of existing laws. The study has implications for policy makers and proposes a relationship between crime science and veterinary medicine.
authors.forename: Tariq
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abbas
authors.forename: Younus
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Muhammad
authors.forename: Sanan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Raza
authors.forename: Amar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nasir
authors.forename: Detlef W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Höreth-Böntgen
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000818:Animals; D002020:Buffaloes; D002417:Cattle; D044707:Forensic Sciences; D058751:Livestock; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D013800:Theft / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*