Backyard butchers and vigilante farmers: stock rustling on the rise in New Zealand

Last year thousands of valuable farm animals were poached from isolated farms to await slaughter in 'abhorrent' and illegal conditions

The thick swarm of black flies hanging above the backyard of the rural property was the first tip-off. The metallic stench of weeks-old animal blood was another.

"There were dead animals, offal and blood everywhere, spread out on an exposed concrete slab with people walking through it and birds flying through," says Gary Orr.