www.yahoo.com/news/bulldozer-stolen-cons...d-act-120456589.html

Guard your keys - hide the crank and rope -   

These "times" are leading to some terrible results to our hobbies and communities.

Be Safe out There!
cts
 

Thx. Reminds me of yester years when pranksters would start up orange crawlers in the Sutter Basin area here, and let them "walk" for miles before wedging against an oak tree or ending up in a canal or drain.

Actually lot of people these days don't know how to start a pony engine that as a crank pully and rope only. So having a starting engine that is also very grumpy is one way to protect your machines. Unless the prankster is skilled and knows what he is doing.
Meth and Copper heads(not to confuse with a snake) like to just take off brass parts and sell them for scraps. Specially a issue with old steam engines that have lot of brass parts.
When I worked on a construction site they would come and just empty out the gas and fuel tanks. We once put some fuel mixed with a very volatile chemical into the gas tank and after that no more fuel theft.