Namaqualand, South AfricaBefore the sun peeked over the desert horizon on a Friday morning in April 2021, Pieter Schreuder sat down to breakfast with his wife, Joan. They kept their voices low so as not to wake their sons, ages nine and 11. Then, Schreuder and the family’s black-and-white sheepdog, Panda, climbed into a bakkie, or pickup truck, to begin the day’s work at the family’s 25,000-acre sheep and goat farm some 35 miles away in Northern Cape, South Africa’s largest province.

Footprints near the farm’s gates were the first sign that something was wrong. It wasn’t until hours later that Schreuder spotted four strangers in the distance. When he called out, they started to run.

Adrenaline surging, he gave chase, brandishing the rifle he