Herdsman relies on DNA test to settle sheep claim

Alaha, a herdsman of Xilin Gol, Inner Mongolia had no other way of claiming his sheep which got mixed up with his neighbor's flock, except for a DNA test.

"I have filed a lawsuit against my against my neighbor for the return of my sheep, and I think I will win.

"I have got the results of a DNA test which show that some of my neighbor's ewes and lambs belong to me. The lambs are the offspring of my rams," Alaha said on Sunday.

On March 4, last year, Bashisan, a shepherd employed by Alaha, discovered that 46 pregnant ewes were missing. He reported to Alaha and the family began a search.

On March 19, by accident, Bashisan discovered that the missing sheep were mixed in with the flock of Alaha's neighbor, Daoriji. He recognized some of the ewes because he had raised them.

Daoriji initially admitted that some of the sheep belonged to Alaha, but later demanded that Alaha would have to provide conclusive evidence.

"I felt so angry and reported the matter to the police, hoping they could help me," Alaha said.

However, the police found it difficult to identify the sheep.

"In the area, herdsmen tattoo the ears of their sheep at birth for identification. The tattoos on Alaha's sheep appeared to have been changed, but we could not take action as Daoriji claimed he had bought them recently. So we had no conclusive proof," a policeman said.

Alaha then contacted a lawyer who gave him some hope of regaining his sheep.

The lawyer, Cai Rike, told Alaha that the ewes could be identified through DNA testing if the lambs on his farm matched the genes of his rams and the ewes.

"The gestation period for ewes is five months, but some of the ewes in Daoriji's flock had given birth a month early so they could not have been mated with Daoriji's rams," Cai said.

On June 13, doctors from the DNA Test Center of the Fourth Military Medical University in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, conducted tests.

"This is was the first time DNA technology was being used to identify the progeny of sheep," Wang Xiaobin, one of the doctors, said.

In Daoriji's flock, Alaha and Bashisan identified 36 ewes, which they thought to be theirs. But Wang could not be certain who their offspring were.

The herdsmen had a way. They locked up all of their lambs for a day without milk. The next day, the lambs went straight to their mothers to suckle.

Wang and his colleagues took blood samples from the 36 ewes in dispute, and their lambs, and the blood samples of 26 stud rams in Alaha's flock. The doctors took the blood samples back to Xi'an for testing.

On December 22, the final results of the DNA test showed that the 36 ewes were the mothers of the 36 lambs, and the 26 stud rams were the fathers of 34 out of the 36 lambs.

"Only the fathers of two lambs could not be identified. We think the results are very authoritative," Wang said.

"I am so glad to learn of the results. Though the test has cost me more than 40,000 yuan ($5,524), four times the value of the sheep, I am happy to have used high technology to back up my claim," Alaha said.

Hearing of the court case will be held in the next few days and Alaha is confident of getting back his sheep.

China Daily

(China Daily 01/24/2008 page6)