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Ashley Hayes Reporting It's a practice well-known from the wild, wild west, but cattle rustling is still very real today.
This week we've reported on the impact it's having on Utah ranchers. But the financial losses don't end with cattleman.
It can mean paying more for your meal! And depending on how large the losses are, it could potentially be a lot of money.
John Kimball, State Livestock Theft investigator: "I think there's been cattle theft as long as there's been cattle."
Stealing cattle. It sounds outrageous that this would be a growing crime in our sophisticated day and age. But law enforcement says more and more Utah ranchers are victims of livestock theft.
They say desperate meth addicts are stealing, and using the profit to buy drugs.
If this seems too distant, too far fetched, the result is as close as your wallet.
Alden Orme/ Juab County Sheriff: "It impacts us all through the prices you pay for your meat at the store."
"If they're makig losses in their industry, they've got to recoup the losses somewhere. So the price goes up that you pay in the grocery store."
A price increase is an annoyance, but one that probably won't mean missing a meal, certainly not losing a job.
John Kimball/ State Livestock Theft Investigator: "One man told me that he lost 25 calves himself. That's half the cows he put up there. He can't afford that. That's his livelihood, the calves that come off that mountain."
And because not all ranchers will experience such large thefts, this crime could put the little guy out of business.
Law enforcement says if the situation gets that bad, and the supply is cut, prices could go higher.
