2024年7月、ボツワナの警察が、「迷い込んだ家畜を届け出ないのは犯罪であり、よその子牛に自分の焼き印を押すのも犯罪だ」と全国に呼びかけた。July 2024 — The police of Botswana warn the nation that failing to report stray livestock is a crime — and so is branding someone else's calf.

In July 2024 the police of Botswana issued a national warning about cattle theft, as part of the 'Kgomo-Khumo' anti-stock-theft campaign.

The methods, the police said, run like this: a stray animal (a matimela) is taken into one's own kraal, a calf is branded with one's own mark, and the mother is disposed of to remove the evidence. Or animals are slaughtered at night on deserted farms and the carcasses sold to butchers. Sometimes the original brand is erased and replaced with one's own.

The police then stressed two things as crimes: not reporting a stray animal, and keeping, slaughtering or selling livestock that is not one's own. Reports, they said, should go to the council offices or to the chiefs (the Dikgosi). The spokesman was Assistant Superintendent Selebatso Mooketsi.