LIVES could have been lost as a result of livestock straying onto a busy road because a wire fence had been deliberately cut. The stark warning came from Bude-Stratton mayor Frank Partridge at last week's town council meeting. He said that twice in little over three weeks fencing surrounding land owned by the town council had been cut — in one instance enabling cattle to escape onto the busy A39 in Stratton. Town clerk Christine Kett was informed at around 10pm on Saturday, June 14 that a number of cows had escaped — she quickly headed to the field, along with the tenant farmer and a member of the council's outdoor staff, to round them up. Mrs Kett said it was fortunate nobody was hurt: "The message said the cows were difficult to spot — it was dusk, and there were some black cattle. "People don't quite understand the seriousness of the situation; someone could have swerved into a tree." The cattle were eventually relocated to a nearby field, but a matter of days later more wire fencing was cut — fortunately this time none of the animals escaped before the damage was discovered. Cllr Partridge said the incidents could have had a 'horrendous' outcome, and he deplored the 'lack of sense' shown by the person responsible. For the full report, and a round-up of the area news and sport, see this week's edition of the Post.