Police are appealing for information after ten sheep were reported stolen from farmland in North Wales, as fears grow they were illegally slaughtered.
One of the sheep was found slaughtered in nearby wasteland shortly after 6pm on Wednesday 5 October, according to North Wales Police's Rural Crime Team.
Another was found to have been shot with a crossbow bolt, while the other eight are currently missing, the force explained.
There are concerns the sheep - farmed in a field on Lower Aston Hall Lane, Aston - have been slaughtered to be sold on for human consumption.
PC Dave Allen, of the Rural Crime Team said: “I am appealing to anybody who has information, or anybody who may have witnessed this incident to contact officers.
“I am also appealing to anybody who is offered cheap meat not to accept it and report it to us as soon as possible.
“Any meat that is suitable for human consumption needs to have followed rigorous meat processing rules and regulations.
"Anything that has not complied with the regulations is unsafe to consume.”
Anyone with information are being asked to contact the police on 101, or via the website, using reference B151550.
The latest incident follows dozens of similar crimes of illegal butchery that have happened on farmers' fields across the country.
In 2020, two men pleaded guilty following the illegal slaughter of hundreds of sheep and lambs in Northamptonshire.
