The theft of vehicles and equipment from a Waimate farm under quarantine as a result of Mycoplasma bovis has left the farm's manager upset and confused as to why the property was targeted.
Over the weekend, a Honda 420 quad bike, three motorcycles - a Suzuki DR200, Yamaha TT80 andHonda CRF70 - a ride-on lawn mower, several Makita power tools, two chainsaws, a posthole driller and several other pieces of equipment were stolen from the property just outside Waimate.
The farm is part of the van Leeuwen Dairy Group that owns the property near Glenavy where the disease was first detected last year.
Farm manager Xavier de Weert said, as the property was quarantined by the Ministry for Primary Industries, the equipment had been sterilised and was stored in a container.
He suspected the person or people who carried out the crime knew the property would be uninhabited at the time.
''Ideally, it shouldn't happen. The way I see it is it's technically a biohazard security area, so therefore people should stay away,'' he said.
''At the end of the day it's only material, but it's uncalled for and not ideal.
''My thought was, with everything in the container, if anything does leech out, it could potentially affect other stock because somebody has taken it out of a controlled zone.''
The Yamaha and Honda motorcycles stolen were used by his children and they were left ''heartbroken'' by the theft.
An MPI spokesperson confirmed the property had been de-stocked and was going through cleaning and disinfection processes and that there was no biosecurity risk from the equipment leaving the property.
However, the MPI did not rule out the risk of infection if the incident was to be repeated at other farms that had not been placed under quarantine.
''Farm equipment may play a role in the spread of Mycoplasma bovis, especially equipment that comes into direct contact with infected animals. However, the disease is primarily spread from animal to animal.''
