United States-Cattle Rustling on the increase.

UNITED STATES-THE GOOD OLD BAD OLD DAYS OF CATTLE RUSTLING.

Cattle rustling appears to be on the rise across the U.S. in what may be another result of tough economic times. The numbers aren’t large, but officials around the country are reporting more missing or stolen cattle than two years ago. The statistics on rustling are hard to verify, though, because it’s difficult to separate cattle that are simply missing from those that are actually stolen. Rick Wahlert, secretary treasurer of the International Livestock Identification Association, said in 2008 his association received reports of more than 1,000 head of cattle or horses missing, stolen or thought to be stolen from the group’s 25 member states. This was up about 20% to 30% from 2007, he said. The number of reports was almost the same, but more livestock were included.