VICTORIA -- A group of boys destroyed a farmer’s livelihood on Saturday night and police are investigating it as a possible crime of mischief.
Ryan Vantreight, a fifth-generation farmer on the Saanich Peninsula, received a call from a concerned neighbor on Saturday night saying two trucks were stuck in his hayfield at Longview Farms.
“What else I found was absolutely disgusting,” he said.
He arrived late Saturday night to the field off Wallace Drive to find two trucks stuck in the mud. The darkness made it hard to see but he soon realized his entire field had been destroyed by the three boys who were joyriding before becoming stuck.
“The amount of damage that they’ve done here is absolutely incredible,” said Vantreight. “With the moisture in the field, the tires sunk in and did a lot of damage. It’s a crop, it is a hayfield.”
Chief Les Sylvan with Central Saanich police said officers are investigating the incident as possible criminal mischief.
On Sunday morning, Vantreight went to assess the damage. He said the field normally produces 1,200 bales of hay, but now its yield will be substantially reduced.
“I am absolutely shocked,” he said. “Just from the ground, you can see how bad the damage is. It’s substantial."
He adds the damage is in the thousands of dollars and he will need to fix the field.
“This is a working farm," he said. "These fields are someone’s income."
Vantreight said this is not fun for him and he hopes in the future someone would think twice before going for a joyride through his field.
