Okay to eat bird that has been killed by bobcat?

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woodlumn

woodlumn

In the Brooder
10 Years
Aug 3, 2009
52
2
41
Virginia
We lost several birds yesterday during the day. Last night I heard a commotion outside and spotted a bobcat with a hen in its mouth. I ran outside and scared off the bobcat, which dropped the hen. Poor bird was still alive, but dying. I held her until she stopped moving.

I took the bird inside and processed it. The only real wound I could find was the kill bite on the back of the neck.

Is there any reason that I shouldn't eat this bird? Bacteria from the bite, etc?

Thanks!
 
I WOULD THINK AS LONG AS CAT HAD NOTHING WRONG WITH IT .-IT WOULD BE ALRIGHT? CAT WAS PROABLY HEALTHY? BUT THAT MY GUESS-SEE WHAT OTHERS SAY.
 
Properly processed and cooked it should be fine. Cooking will take care of any problems and you processed it right after it died.

Some people may try to scare you with “this could happen” or “that could happen”. A lot of things could happen, a piece of space junk might fall out of the sky and hit your house today. It could happen, but I don’t spend much time worrying about that and I would not worry about eating that chicken.
 
No.
Bacteria could be building up in the bird from the attack. Our bacteria s becoming more aggressive . My husband in October experienced a small cut to the arm and it was so aggressive that he spend several days in hospital. The doctors said it was a bacteria that could not be battled by penicillin.
Tho it was not an issue of eating an injured animal...the example is to warn of our new bacterias.
 
Well I'm finding lots of conflicting advice on the web, too.

The bird has only two small puncture wounds on the back of the neck (feline "kill bite"), and after the bobcat dropped it, it was still moving. She was moving while I held her and she died and I got down to processing her five minutes later. I also cut the neck off where the bites were.

I'm wondering how much of people's advice is based on just being squeamish, and not so much on what the actual risks are.
 
woodlumn said:
Well I'm finding lots of conflicting advice on the web, too.

The bird has only two small puncture wounds on the back of the neck (feline "kill bite"), and after the bobcat dropped it, it was still moving. She was moving while I held her and she died and I got down to processing her five minutes later. I also cut the neck off where the bites were.

I'm wondering how much of people's advice is based on just being squeamish, and not so much on what the actual risks are.
Click to expand...
If you cook it, The risk is very small. not more than using a dog for hunting. I wouldn't eat it myself, just squeamish
 
2nd time around for me but I'd boil it incase then put some rice in the broth and boil the rice about 15 m and bon-ap-a-tet or eat ! I usely boil chicken high for about 10-15 min. then kinda on low boil simmer 30 min. then throw in the rice . Proably saver than what you'd buy in the store .
 
Reporting back...

We decided to go ahead and eat her. I figured the risk of anything festering was very low. Also, bacteria and pathogens that pose danger to humans can't survive at temps over 120F, and I get the internal temp up to about 160F anyway.

The only thing I did differently was that I brined the chicken to draw out any remaining blood, since the bird wasn't properly bled out because of how it died. I did this by soaking it for about 4 hours in 3/4 C salt to 1 gallon of water, with about 1/2 C sugar. After that, I buttered and rubbed with fresh garlic and pepper and broiled her snuggled in with a few big turnips that we dug out from under the snow :)

Very tasty! My daughter took a couple of the feathers that she saved and added them to the dinner bouquet. Thanks speckled sussex!
 

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