RUSTLERS stunned a bull with a high-voltage gun and then slaughtered it by the roadside, police revealed today.

The horrific incident happened at the weekend at a farm in Standlake, near Witney. When the farmer checked his stock on Saturday morning, a ten-month-old Limousin steer, worth £450, was missing from its pen.

Police said the thieves took three hundredweight of meat before leaving the bloody carcass lying in the road.

Pc Paul Hunt, of Witney police, said: "We presume it was stunned with high-voltage equipment which is used in abattoirs, then dragged several hundred yards, killed and cut up. "It was a sick and macabre crime, because these animals would normally be slaughtered in humane conditions."

Officers investigating the case found it bizarre that the thieves took so much time and effort to steal the bull - because the meat they took would have been inedible.

"Because the animal wasn't properly killed and was dragged so far, the meat will be badly bruised and just about inedible," Pc Hunt added.

Witney police, on 01993 893850, want to hear from anyone who has been offered beef in suspicious circumstances, or about anyone who has animal-stunning equipment for no obvious reason.

Story date: Tuesday 15 February

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