Kerry farmer celebrates as 24 stolen hoggets return

A Kerry farmer is celebrating after 24 of his stolen hoggets made their own way home over the mountains near Killarney at the weekend.

Dermot Donovan’s Scotch and Texel-cross hoggets went missing from Mangerton mountain on Wednesday 12 April.

The farmer had moved 30 hoggets on to the commonage on Monday afternoon but by Wednesday, most of them were gone.

Donovan and his family combed the mountain for their sheep and found four hoggets on Wednesday but the remaining 26 were nowhere to be found.

“We tracked them out to the top of Mangerton mountain,” Donovan told the Irish Farmers Journal. “The signs were completely fresh.”

The farmer believes the sheep were stolen and moved a long distance, only to eventually make their own way home again on Saturday, four days after they disappeared.

You can see their tracks, and the footprints of the man driving them and his dog too

“They were driven out through bare bog and you can see their tracks, and the footprints of the man driving them and his dog too,” the farmer continued. “He drove them out the top of Mangerton mountain, it’s 2,700ft high, and turned them to the right. He must have driven them on a long ways after that because it took them four days to get back.

“Certainly they made their own way back, but they were gone a long way because it took them a long time to get home. A sheep that’s born in one part of the mountain, even if it’s a 2,000 acre commonage, will return to where she was born.”

The family has photographs of the tracks, the footprints of both man and dog, which they will be taking to An Garda Síochána on Monday.

“We measured the stride length and the size of the man’s wellingtons too,” said Donovan, who added: “It took a lot of effort and blackguarding to take those sheep. The people that did this know what they are doing, they know the mountain.”

He continued: “Anyone who touches anyone else’s sheep, it is out of all order.”

Donovan thanked friends and neighbours who helped the family in their search, adding that hotels in Killarney and other local businesses had been very helpful in giving them access to CCTV footage.

“That should be emphasised – there should be no-one on CCTV on the roads moving jeeps and trailers between 11 at night and seven in the morning. Anyone that is is only out for something serious.”

Two hoggets are still missing but the farmer is confident these will follow their comrades home before long.

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