Got a murder mystery?

[nicole camp]

Has something eaten your animals? I'm studying wildlife biology and know all about animals and their behaviors. If you need help identifying a killer leave a post with details. Best of luck!

 

[chooks4life]

There's nobody alive that knows 'all' about animals and their behaviors, but I would think you'd know some interesting things.

A while back there was an animal or a few animals getting around the paddocks at night which removed the heads of goats and sheep like giant scissors. It only took the heads to play with them because it certainly wasn't doing it for hunger. The heads would be taken hundreds of meters, sometimes thousands, away from the corpses, before being abandoned before daylight. The bodies were often without a single mark on them. It took everything from newborns to adult males, the size and weaponry of the animal was not an issue that influenced its choices of prey.

The wounds were very clean and once we came across a baby goat that was still warm and soft. Given that the head had been removed so cleanly and the blood wasn't spurting or even dripping, it seems the predator may have licked up the blood. There was no trail of drips showing the separation of head and body, and no drips around the body; it was all very clean, even the lips of the wound and the wound itself.

It wasn't dogs, and the dogs in that area were terrified berserk whenever the killer/s were hunting, but never game to attack.

What do you reckon it was?

 

[nicole camp]

What part of the country was the attack in? Cougars have been known to separate the head from the body when they are young to prevent injury on themselves when making the kill. It's amazing that it was like a scissor blade. I'm curious if you heard about this story or if you witnessed it yourself. If you witnessed it yourself I'm sure you have pictures, and I would love to see the wounds on the carcasses. I've also seen cougars try to pull goats over a fence and the weight of the animal causes the head to be severed from the body.

 

[nicole camp]

This also sounds like a humans sick joke. If its not, I'm thinking its a cat because they are one of the only animals that kill in the way over and over again. Hope this helps!

 

[nicole camp]

Caught This Coon Stealing Eggs This Morning

 

[dekel18042]

Would like your thoughts on this. Things have been quiet for a year. Last disappearance was when the coop was accidently locked before two chickens were in and only the hen returned in the morning. OK, that was our fault.
But just yesterday .....Our home has two mowed acres cleared in the woods. At this time of year, snow has mostly gone, but nothing green is growing yet, so visibility is good. The day was grey, dismal and damp. Hard rain was intersperced with drizzle and it was a raw day I was away, but my husband was home and in and out between the showers trying to get a little outside work done and he neither saw nor heard anything.
When the chickens came in for the evening, (They are locked up overnight) two were missing, a black Jersey Giant, our largest hen, really big, and an Easter egger (Of course, our biggest egg layer and the one who laid the prettiest blues)
It was dusk and my husband looked but saw nothing.
We both went out this morning and searched the lawn and into the woods.
What supprised me most was we saw NOTHING, no signs. Thinking of possible preditors, an arial preditor should have left an explosion of feathers, plus what could carry a large JG away? Wouldn't that have had to eat her on the ground?
This was during the day, from noon to early afternoon so can we eliminate the nighttime preditors?
I could understand losing one bird, but TWO on the same day after things have been quiet so long.
Usually someone is home and/or in and out frequently. We have dogs that go in and out with us. Plenty of hiding places.
In thinking of possibilities, I tried to figure out what could have gotten the two with no sign. Something big enough to carry them away? Would that mean two preditors? But wouldn't one being caught warn the other? None of the other chickens seemed upset/
Talking with a few friends we didn't think fox, or raccoon or oppossum or skunk or weasel. My husband said there were no strange dogs around.
A couple of us put our heads together and some of the thoughts were:
Do we have coyotes? (maybe)
What about a bobcat (There have been a few in the past. Nothing recent --more homes going up in the area, but who knows?) )
Could the chickens have left on their on? Could they reappear? (But again, would this have been more likely with one?)
A human? No real close neighbors.
Any ideas?

 

[nicole camp]

This sounds exactly like my first issue with a bobcat. There were no signs at first and the killings were so quite that our hunting dogs had not heard them. I'm guessing the chickens didn't move because they were roosting at the time of the attacks. Bobcats are known for moving the kills hundreds of yard away from the kill site and eating them in a tree. When this happened to me we went looking in the forest near our house and we found a pile of feathers at the base of a tree. This definitely sounds like a cat because it is hunting in the early evening hours. If you want to hunt for the bobcat try looking in the tree. They often sleep in the treetops during the day. I have another thread running on bobcats. That thread tells you exactly how the second bobcat took down my orpingtons. Hope this helps!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/868187/barbarous-bobcat <---- Link to the bobcat thread

Tips to tell of a bobcat attack Verses Other Animals:
1. Similar Kill tactics and eating habits on all birds.
2. Happens at late hours.
3. little to no tracks, your lucky to find any
4. Quite death on birds when they attac

 

[dekel18042]

Could be, but what I'm wondering would one bobcat take two chickens at the same time? Or could there be two bobcats and each got one?
How do you trap or eradicate bobcats?

 

[nicole camp]

One bobcat can take up to three a night. Often when they have a large selection of chickens they will only eat the good part of the animals like the breast. The bobcat can also try to catch and kill as many as possible due to the opportunity. They would simply hide the carcass afterward. Have you even seen leopards in Africa? They have a lot of the same habits as the large cats do.

If you want to catch a bobcat in a trap I know that a raw chicken breast from the store with a wet can of cat food should do the trick. My dad has used this 6 times and has caught 6 bobcats. He works for the fish and wildlife service in California. Make sure you have a trap the size of a medium-large size dog. You should also cover the trap with leaves and branches to make it look natural.

If you want to hunt the animal you can look in the tree tops during the day or sit near the coop at night with a gun. A bobcat is very hard to track so I suggest you wait at the coop after an attack. I have done this before and ended up killing one at 2:00 am in the morning. If you are going to sit near it wear camo and sit down wind from where you think the bobcat is most likely to come from. Sit outside before it is dark. I've heard of people using my strategy and getting it just before dark as well. Hope this helps!

 

[thomasboyle]

You also have to consider that predators don't always read the rules on when they are supposed to be out hunting. I have a game camera set up by my coop, and I have pictures of a bobcat at 10am, 2pm, 7pm, and I personally ran into him at 10pm on night last summer. Someone on this site posted a video on youtube of a bobcat jumping their electric fence and grabbing a pekin duck and taking off with it. A few minutes later, he was back again for another, and I think he got a 3rd before the video ended. For me, the game camera is invaluable in finding what is coming around, and sometimes getting my birds.