Canadian Thieves Stealing Horse Tails from Farms, Owners Get Worried

Horse owners in Canada are getting increasingly worried about the tails of their animals as thieves have been targeting them of late. The trend has started in the Cowichan Valley of Vancouver Island.

CBC reports that 3 show horses of Krista Batty had to part more than half of their tails last week. Ms Batty, who is the owner of a farm in Duncan-area, said that the thieves must be aware of ways of handling horses. Her grey horse could not have allowed anyone to cut her tail off otherwise as she is quite "untrusting" of people.

Ms Batty also added that someone might have been petting the horses across the fence. That was the reason why no one was able to notice any kind of suspicious activity, she said. Many other owners of local horse farms commented that thieves did not leave their horses either. They also informed that the stealing of the horse tails had happened before as well. Another incident of similar sort was reported in March 2013 to the RCMP. Another incident was reported in Langley, while several others were reported in the United States.

Ms Batty wondered why someone might like to steal something like horse tails. However, she had a suspicion that horse hair could be in demand in the fields of art and craft. They are also used for making violin bows, she added. She claimed that she would give away all the hair they did not require to have, but the thieves must stop stealing the hair the way they had been doing so far.

Such theft has made the farm owners extremely apprehensive as show horses without the tails will lose their grace. Additionally, it may also affect their health as the tail is used against flies and insects. Some of the owners are willing to invest thousand to build electrified fences just to protect their animals. Meanwhile, the reason behind such theft is yet to be revealed.