Some farmers across Acadiana have been a victim of crawfish theft. With the beginning of crawfish season being difficult at times, farmer Paul Zaunbrecher says losing product takes a big hit on businesses financially.
"It gets aggravating because we start the season, the prices are real high," Zaunbrecher siad. "You're not making a lot of money to begin with and they are taking a sack of crawfish that's probably worth 100 dollars and they're going to sell it for only about 20 dollars."
Zaunbrecher told KATC, crawfish thieves typically steal crawfish at night from ponds closest to the roads.
"We tell our guys if we're going to fish two different fields, try to fish the field next to the road first where you will take those crawfish in the truck first," Zaunbrecher explained. "Go to the other field off of the road way instead of vice versa."
Zaunbrecher says his team has learned from previous mistakes and have improved crawfish pickup protocols.
"We try to pick up or have multiple trucks there where it's not one person by themselves and definitely don't leave anything unattended because that's really what's going to get stolen," Zaunbrecher said.
KATC spoke with Acadia Parish Sheriff K.P Gibson who told us crawfish thefts are common every year.
"Like I said we get at least 15 or 20 of them a year during crawfish season," Gibson said. "It may not seem like a lot number wise but when you're looking at the farmers in the volume that's getting taken, it does matter to them."
The Acadia Parish Sheriffs Office encourages neighbors to speak up if they see something.
