I posted something similar yesterday - it's all very strange.
If it's all true there has to be heaps of white vans & red 4x4s at it, impossible for all these sightings to be true. Red herring maybe? Chinese whispers possibly?
I'm on alert though, but exactly - so many sightings & they're still doing it - I don't think so!
I would have thought that the Police cant do anything about them taking photos, stopping etc. They will have to actually catch them stealing the animals - I guess - so possibily that is why
Probably lots of panic, with some truth thrown in. As far as I can gather, most thefts and sightings have been in the major motorway corridors, and as someone who travels alot, it is possible to get around the country very fast. Equally likely is that they have several sets of the same plates to confuse matters.