Cattle raiding

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Cattle rustling or cattle raiding is the act of stealing livestock.

In the American Old West, rustling was under some circumstances considered a serious offense; however, it would rarely result in lynching by vigilantes. Most such stories are false or exaggerations at least in part inspired by popular Westerns such as The Virginian.

Mexican rustlers were a major issue during the American Civil War, with the Mexican government being accused of supporting the habit. Texans likewise stole cattle from Mexico, swimming them across the Rio Grande. These cattle were called 'wet stock'. Failure to brand new calves facilitated theft.

Conflict over (mostly presumed) rustling was a major issue in the Johnson County War in the American state of Wyoming.

The transition from open range to fenced grazing gradually reduced the practice of rustling in North America. In the 20th century, so called 'suburban rustling' became more common, with rustlers anesthetizing cattle and taking them directly to auction. It often takes place at night, and poses problems for law enforcement because on very large ranches it can take several days for loss of cattle to be noticed and reported. Convictions are rare to nonexistent.

Cattle rustling continues to be a major problem in developing countries in areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa.

[edit] Mythology

Cattle raids play an important part in Indo-European mythology, see for example Táin Bó Cúailnge, the Rigvedic Panis, and the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, who steals the cows of Apollo. These myths are often paired with myths of the rape (in the original wider sense of the term) or abduction of women (compare Helen, Sita, Saranyu, The Rape of the Sabine Women). Abduction of women and theft of lifestock was a near-universal practice in the world's pre-urbanised cultures, the former likely reaching back to the Paleolithic, and the latter to the earliest domestication of animals in the Neolithic.