Rupununi stories by Pauline Stanford
Rustling is just one of several challenges confronting Rupununi ranchers, says Don Melville, who served as the manager of the Waichi Ranch for ten years. It continues to be the bane of the ranchers’ existence and the economic losses are considerable. Melville talks about the highly organised nature of the cattle theft. The absence of an effective deterrent, he says, means that the rustlers, both Guyanese and Brazilians, have a more-or-less, ‘free hand.’ Rustling, Melville informs, is a highly organised pursuit which intensifies during the rainy season when the cattle are clustered on higher ground, making it easier for the rustlers to move several hundred head simultaneously. They strike at other strategic moments… like during holiday periods, and the Rupununi Rodeo season. At these times, Melville says, alternative preoccupations create distractions that work to the advantage of the rustlers.