Police have arrested a man and a woman from Deventer on suspicion of killing sheep and making off with the meat on at least 15 occasions.

They suspect the 35-year-old woman and her 43-year-old partner killed a total of six sheep on fields in Wilp in Gelderland, possibly without sedation, leaving entrails and skins for the owners to find.

The pair may also be involved in the slaughter of two rams at a petting zoo in Olst in March 2020. ‘Their necks had been severed and the meat had been cut off in a professional way. It was a horrible sight,’ one of the zoo’s employees said at the time.

A short while later, the remains of a ewe and a lamb belonging to a flock near Deventer were found.

Police were able to link DNA found at the scene in Wilp to the suspects, who police think had been active since the beginning of 2020.

When raiding their home police found great quantities of meat in a freezer, including stolen chickens.

‘They took a serious public health risk slaughtering these animals they way they did,’ police said, adding that they had also caused great suffering to the animals if, as is suspected, they killed them without sedation.