Absolutely devastated... please help with identification.

[Weeg]

We have coyotes but when I lost own to them before all that was left was feathers... yeah only the head is gone everything else was untouched

The killing strategy makes me think Coon or Weasel. They look like dog prints though. Could it have be a dog? That would make sense. I am thinking dog.

 

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

I will also add that this particular Pekin duck was on the large side weighing about 15 pounds. I am just baffled.

 

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

The killing strategy makes me think Coon or Weasel. They look like dog prints though. Could it have be a dog? That would make sense. I am thinking dog.

It could have been a dog. I don’t have many close neighbors but we occasionally get strays. I have an eight year old Sheltie but he was inside with me. I do know that my he has been on edge today and barking more than usual when I walked him.

 

[Weeg]

It could have been a dog. I don’t have many close neighbors but we occasionally get strays. I have an eight year old Sheltie but he was inside with me. I do know that my he has been on edge today and barking more than usual when I walked him.

Your dog acting up is a sign something was out there. Put up a security camera, or large live trap if possible. Whatever it is will likely come back.

 

[Jtodd99]

The picture is really not good but I feel like it doesn’t look like a raccoon. To me it looked like a dog the footprint in the first picture is bigger than the size of a quarter... I’ll try to get better ones tommorow.

Yeah I agree, it looks like dog prints of some kind

 

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

Your dog acting up is a sign something was out there. Put up a security camera, or large live trap if possible. Whatever it is will likely come back.

He usually barks when we run so I didn’t really think much of it till now. I have a live trap that I’m going to setup tommorow and the ducks will only go out while supervised. I made sure to secure all the ducks and put all the farm cats plus the rabbits inside. The weird part is that the guineas have stayed out every night without issues, so I just don’t know what could have done this.

 

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

Yeah I agree, it looks like dog prints of some kind

Thanks for the insight. I just find it weird that it would only take the head because i would think that a dog wouldn’t eat the whole thing.

 

[Jtodd99]

Thanks for the insight. I just find it weird that it would only take the head because i would think that a dog wouldn’t eat the whole thing.

No not always, lot of the times dogs kill for the sport, and loose interest once their target stops moving

 

[bobbi-j]

How big are the prints? A raccoon looks like a little hand print. I don’t think a dog would kill and just eat the head. That’s not their typical MO. A mink will eat the head, as will a raccoon, skunk or weasel. We just lost a good sized pullet last week to a mink, in the middle of the day. We had been outside most of the morning, went in for lunch, came out and discovered it. It was still fresh.

 

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

How big are the prints? A raccoon looks like a little hand print. I don’t think a dog would kill and just eat the head. That’s not their typical MO. A mink will eat the head, as will a raccoon, skunk or weasel. We just lost a good sized pullet last week to a mink, in the middle of the day. We had been outside most of the morning, went in for lunch, came out and discovered it. It was still fresh.

The prints I would say are slightly smaller than my Sheltie’s. Larger than a quarter. It definitely didn’t look like a raccoon to me. We’ve had weasels around before but these are much to large to be a weasel.