Cattle Rustling Making A Comeback In Oklahoma

Cattle rustling is an old-timey regional term for one of the oldest crimes in human civilization: walking off with someone else’s livestock. It turns out that when animals have been bred to be docile and to trust humans, it’s not hard to drive off with them. Auction houses don’t ask for proof that the cattle you’re selling are actually yours, there are no standardized ear tags, and the unwitting public ends up eating the evidence. NPR’s Planet Money recently shadowed one of the brave law enforcement officers fighting the cattle rustling menace, special agent in charge Jerry Flowers of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture.