Unknown people steal mother cow from Rhön pasture – calf alone


  1. Fulda newspaper
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Farmer Thomas Sauer from Poppenhausen-Rodholz doesn't know what happened to his cow.
Farmer Thomas Sauer from Poppenhausen-Rodholz doesn't know what happened to his cow. © Tobias Farnung

Brazen theft in the Rhön: A mother cow disappeared from a pasture. The calf was left alone. Cow owner Thomas Sauer is faced with a puzzle. The police are looking for witnesses.

Poppenhausen – Update from April 28th, 9:30 p.m.: Thomas Sauer, local farmer in the Rodholz district of Poppenhausen, is the owner of a 14-strong Simmental herd. The cow got away from this herd. “Of course you don’t immediately think of something bad,” he says of the time when he first noticed an animal was missing.

“You hear about wolf sightings in the area from time to time. But there was no evidence of that either,” said the farmer, whose main job is as an animal keeper in the Gersfeld Wildlife Park. “There were no behavioral problems among the remaining animals in the herd. That would have been different if they had encountered the wolf.”

Luckily the calf is a bit bigger

It is more likely that the cow, which weighs around 900 kilograms, was stolen. Although the farmer can see the pasture from his farm, the rear, sloping area has good privacy protection – and a direct connection to a road with little traffic. Ideal conditions for a cattle thief.

“If you look on the Internet, you will always find individual cases like this,” says Sauer. “Fortunately, the calf is a bit bigger and can cope without its mother’s udder,” he says. Other calves on his farm are only around three weeks old. “That would be a much bigger problem.”

Symbolic photo of cows in Bavaria
Unknown people have allegedly stolen a mother cow from a pasture in the Rhön. (Symbolic image) © Peter Kneffel/dpa

Thomas Sauer actually no longer has much hope of getting his cow back. “Is the cow still alive? Is it dead? Has it been slaughtered? Has it been taken abroad or are its innards and fur already lying somewhere in the forest in the area? Not knowing what's going on with the cow is actually what bothers me the most.”

First report from April 28th, 12:21 p.m.: An incident occurred in a pasture on the K160 district road near Poppenhausen between Sunday evening (April 26th), 7:30 p.m., and Monday morning (April 27th), 8:30 a.m., which raises many questions. According to the police, unknown perpetrators stole a brown and white mother cow.

Theft in the Rhön: Unknown people steal a mother cow from the pasture

According to the police, the owner cannot explain the theft: the pasture fence is undamaged. Therefore, the possibility of the animal simply escaping can be almost ruled out. The police assume that the cow was deliberately led out of the paddock and probably transported away with a suitable livestock trailer.

Particularly tragic: The cow was separated from her herd and especially from her calf, with whom she was standing in the meadow between the districts of Heckenhof and Kohlstöcken. The East Hesse police headquarters in Fulda have started investigating the cow theft. Officials are asking the public for help.

We are looking for witnesses who noticed suspicious people or vehicles in the area of ​​K 160 during the period in question. Information can be given via the telephone number (0661) 1050 or the Online watch accepted. Animals were also used in Vogelsberg: A pedestrian found a dead constrictor snake in a lake.

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