We just found out the day before yesterday our milk man, Ba, had 15 of his cows stolen in the bush. Yesterday he spent the whole day looking for them. Needless to say we did not get our daily liter of fresh milk last night. Because presidental elections are coming up, the police aren't too motivated to go out in the middle of the bush to go looking for his cows or cow thieves.
How did 15 cows get stolen you ask? I mean it's not like you can put a cow in your pocket and continue walking on down the street as if nothing is different. You notice these sorts of these things, right? Even if they were grazing in the bush, it's not like you can make 15 cows disappear... or can you?
In the dry season where there is limited follage and water, cow and sheep herders will leave their animals to go deep into the bush to graze. Every evening they come home...I still haven't figured out how the cow doesnt get lost but they always seem to know how to get home (hence the phrase, "When the cows come home") and so every evening animal will come back their compounds for the night. It's nice to watch this at dusk. Many times the herder will have one of their sons go out with the cows as protection for the herds, but equally,there are often herds of animals just out in the middle of nowhere grazing and minding their own business because a herder won't have the resources to send someone out in the bush all day.
So they have these thieves or bandits who steal people's animals. You think about it. Here, an animal is like a debit card for an ATM withdrawal. Animals are all over the place and they represent quick cash. What a thief can do is either 1) sell all the cows to a passing truck of animals going to a larger market (or other country)and voila, instant cash and no evidence tracing anything back to you, 2) sell the cows in the local market and voila, instant cash with no evidence pointing back to you, 3) sell the cows to butchers who sell meat in the market and voila instant cash with no evidence leading back to you, and 4) any combination of the above. So that's how you can get rid of cows quickly and just walk away with the cash in your pocket. It's actually Easier to steal animals here then equipment. And cows are worth a LOT of money. You're looking at $400 per grown cow. So we're talking someone (or a group of people) stealing $6000 in assets. That's a lot of money in anyone's terms, but if your average annual income here is $500 Per Year, you bet your butt I would be forking out extra money for their protection if those were my cows.
So why don't people with huge herds protect their herds by making sure someone always goes out with them to the bush? I don't know. I think it's because robbery of animals still isn't overly prevalent where it has become a dire need to do so. 95% of the time, all your animals will come back. So for that 5% of the time, is it worth forking out money paying for someone to watch your animals if you can't do it yourself? I think the answer for people here is no. I think here if you can't see clearly and immediately the outcomes of your investment, then it doesn't make sense to most here.
So although we both feel bad for Ba, I'm also of the opinion of "Well what did you think would happen sooner or later?" and we think if something is worth so much, it's worth protecting your investment. I don't mean to be cynical, but you have all these cows walking around in the middle of nowhere, by themselves, practically with huge dollar signs (or CFA signs) all over them saying "Take me! Take me!" No witnesses and like I said, they're actually easy to get liquidate and walk away.
So I don't know what's going to happen with Ba. It is possible that a few might turn up because they got seperated from the herd but I think that is doubtful. But it could happen. Let's hope for his sake it does because otherwise this is a huge blow to his livlihood.
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