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Cattle rustlers strike Muskogee CountyMUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP)--Modern-day cattle rustlers struck Muskogee County, with more than two dozen head reported missing in recent days, deputies reported. Muskogee County Undersheriff Randy Perryman said investigators from the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association were to arrive Sept. 20 to investigate the thefts. Rustlers load up the cows and take them some distance to try to dispose of them, Perryman said. The investigators will note any markings and look for the rustled cattle at sale barns away from Muskogee, Perryman said. Tim Gallaway, who lost eight of his 14 cows, an old Hereford bull and five of 10 calves, said he believes his cows were taken during the night Sept. 15. He believes his herd was taken to his neighbor's property, put in a corral and loaded from there. Gallaway met Sept. 19 with Special Ranger John Cummings of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. Cummings is one of five TSCRA rangers working in Oklahoma, and he said cattle theft appears to be on the rise. "When the economy goes down, rustling goes up," he said. Most people who rustle cattle do it for the money, Cummings said. "Some are killing them and slaughtering them--people have gotten to the point where they need food," he said. Most of the time, the rustlers are caught, he said. But it's tougher in Oklahoma because Oklahoma is not a "brand" state, he said. In Texas, cattle have to be branded or identified some way to be sold, he said. Records are kept in a database available to law enforcement. But in Oklahoma, no record is made at the sale barns of brands or ear tags. How many cattle are sold sometimes is the only information available from a sale barn--sometimes not even their color, Cummings said. "Branding is labor intensive," he said. "But for theft prevention, it's the best deterrent. It's the only way under Oklahoma law we can seize the cattle." He said his association encourages branding or identifying cattle, taking precautions to lock gates and not putting work pens next to the road. "Be good neighbors and watch out for each other," he said. "Take someone's tag number who you are not familiar with being in the area." 10/13/08 Date: 10/7/08
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