Chelsea E. Shambley
Blog #2
31 January 2011
3:50 pm
Car thefts and other stolen possessions do not come as much of a surprise these days; however, England has recently experienced a series of thefts that are quite unusual. Farmer Andrew Allen of Windermere, England recently lost forty-five sheep from his original flock of six hundred. The stolen animals are estimated to be worth a total of $6,400. Allen is not the only one to fall prey to the sheep thieves; nineteen other farmers in the majestic lake region have reported stolen flock as well in the last twelve months. According to insurance companies and farm union officials, the crime wave began after global food prices started to increase again, leaving globalization as the culprit. Escalating world demand and back-production in nations such as New Zealand have caused the price per pound for lamb to be thirty-five percent higher than it had been in 2008. With the prices of lamb increasing, authorities from Australia to Turkey to Spain are also on the lookout for sheep thieves. Though the lamb prices in the United States are at record highs, Judy Malone, director of industry information at the American Sheep Industry Association, says that we are not yet experiencing this theft because lamb is not as popular in the United States as it is in Britain.
Upon discovering this bizarre series of the thefts in Britain, I laughed at first, trying to imagine someone sneaking around in the night trying to steal a bunch of furry white sheep; however, I soon realized the importance of sheep in Britain. It is as if sheep are celebrated there; local gift shops sell stuffed sheep toys, mugs, and even chocolate “sheep droppings.” In 2010 alone, there were more than ten thousand head reported stolen in Europe. This crime wave is devastating to the farmers of Britain. I definitely think the increase in food prices is correlated with the number of sheep thefts, and I hope that police officials can find a way to prevent these sheep thefts from continuing to occur throughout 2011.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/15/AR2011011503157_2.html
1 comment:
I can think of it as, what would would happen if people starting stealing cows here. What would America do if it's beloved hamburger went up in price? Probably just pay the difference and keep going, but that's besides the point. It is hard to hear that robberies in livestock is happening because of the raising prices of food, and some would definitely claim that dissolving comparative advantage would solve the problem, but this would mean a decline in revenue coming in, going out, and more cost at home. It's just a shame when situations like this occur.
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