|
Shelby
woman's posse tracks rustlers via a well-wired trail
JOE
DEPRIEST
Staff Writer
SHELBY
- Louise
Mathis' frisky mare Fancy vanished one night in early
February.
The 14-year-old
Wilkes
County
quarterhorse was prone to jump fences, but tire tracks,
hoof prints and manure droppings tipped Mathis off to a
probable theft.
She notified the
Sheriff's Office. Next, she turned to NetPosse, a
fast-growing Cleveland County-based network on the lookout
for missing horses worldwide.
Net Posse knows many
tricks of modern-day rustlers, who use mobile phones, fast
trucks and even dyes to disguise the animals.
Organized by
Shelby
's Debi Metcalfe after her prized horse
Idaho
disappeared in 1997, the service helped find about 40
stolen horses last year. She's tracking about a dozen new
cases this year.
Metcalfe feeds
information about missing animals to hundreds of
volunteers, who pass it to hundreds more. They scout horse
shows and auctions, check pastures and listen to country
store gossip. Clues are sent to police.
Mathis distributed 400
fliers, angry over her missing mare.
"She grew up with
my two kids and thought she was a dog part of the
time," Mathis said. "I'd had horses for years,
and never had one stolen. I was fighting mad."
`A heck
of a network'
continued to page
2
Copyrighted
Material
1
Front
Cover | Table
of Contents | About
the Author |
Back
Cover |
Excerpts - Chapter
1 | Chapter
1 pg-13 | Chapter
4 | In
the News
| Purchase
Book
|
