My pair of geese would not come out of the pond into their shelter last night. At four a.m. I heard commotion and ran outside but it was too late. My female goose was gone and my male was hysterical. All we could find when daylight came were a few feathers and some tracks in the mud. We just moved here a few weeks ago but have been told by neighbors that we have coyote, raccoons, fox, mountain lions, and bobcats. My neighbor lost three 150lb sheep in one week last month. Here are the tracks with a quarter for size comparison. Any help would be appreciated. We are devastated so and I feel responsible but I can't swim out into a 14 ft deep pond at midnight and drag two stubborn geese to safety. I am re-homing the gander asap. Here is the pond at daybreak: Here is where I think the attack occurred. There was nothing left behind, no blood, no remains, just a few feathers. Here are pics of the tracks in the mud:
the one shot I see claws, the first I see claws retracted. aren't cats the only ones that can retract claws?
That first one looks like some kind of large cat, but I am not sure about the other two. A bobcat or coyote would be a good guess. Sorry about your goose.
A canine you should see claw marks clearly, especially in the mud. The one photo it looks like there may be a claw or two showing, but it looks really thin, more like a cats. The over all print looks more like a bobcat.
