A SHEEP farmer was shocked to discover a distressed newborn lamb left tied up lying in a field.

Alan Walker found the frightened animal with its back legs tethered when he went to check on his flock off Heath Lane in High Legh and suspects thieves had been disturbed.

The lamb's eight-week old sibling had been stolen.

"It is sickening," said Alan, who managed to free the lamb's legs and revive it. "All day, the mother was crying for her lamb. She had a difficult lambing and we had to call the vet out at 2am. He managed to save the two lambs then some low life comes along and steals one.

"They had created a pen and caught two lambs. It would have taken two people as these lambs are as big as labrador dogs."

Alan is urging other farmers to be vigilant and is appealing to residents to report anyone seen acting suspiciously in the area to the police.

"I feel nervous, sick and angry," he said. "In the 30 years I have been a sheep farmer I have never come across anything like this.

"I want people to know what is going on."

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New CCTV cameras have now been installed to deter criminals and protect his flock.

"I have 100 ewes and lambs and check them every day," said Alan. "I have put signs up now to say that security cameras are in operation. I am on edge worrying about them all the time."

The theft happened last week.

A spokesman for Cheshire Police said: "At around 12 noon on Thursday, April 29, police received a report regarding two lambs.

"One had been found tied up in a field off Heath Lane in High Legh and the other was missing from the field.

"The missing lamb is believed to have been stolen either that day or the day before."

Anyone with any information about the missing lamb should call Cheshire Constabulary on 101, quoting IML 975834, give the details via https://www.cheshire.police.uk/ro/report or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.