I lost 2 Peking Ducks in the last 2 nights.

[flash5153]

One each night. I believe it is a Raccoon doing this. First one was found 100yards or so ,,from the coop and had only its head and neck gone.
Then last night ,,same thing,, but this time it was found in the other direction 100 yards away! What do you think?? A Raccoon???

Both were killed at night or very early in the morning.

I now have 3 live traps,, all around the coop,,, with tuna fish bait and marsh-mellows.

There are still 3 ducks outside my chicken coop. Ducks have never been kept fenced in. And ,,YES,, I know they are in danger.

Here's the deal. They are not my ducks. lol I have chickens in a coop though. Last year me and GF hatched and raised 1 duck from an egg. It was a female,,,this spring we moved it to the chicken coop. The neighbors male ducks started hanging out at our coop,,,day and night. 4 of them.
Neighbor lets them run free,,,for years. A few days ago we decided to let our duck out to stay,,,even over night,,, in the hopes she would go home with the neighbors ducks.
Well,,,that first night she got killed(2 nights ago) Looking like very bad timing,,considering the neighbors ducks have been running free for years without a problem.
Then,, last night, one of the neighbors males got killed. And now there are 3 more ,not my ducks,,hanging around my chicken coop. I told the neighbor about this and he gave me 2 live traps.
I built one today ,,,so now there are 3 live traps set. I wish the 3 ducks some luck tonight and hopefully is this predator comes back tonight ,,it finds the traps before the ducks.

 

[bryan99705]

If they are outside it could be about anything....owl, coon, fox, etc

 

[cupman]

It certainly sounds like a raccoon, as they seem to kill animals one at a time. I'm a bit surprised they didn't consume more than just the head, and for that reason alone I'd leave the possibility open for other critters. Do you have owls where you live? If it is a raccoon, at least in my experience, if they know where food is at they will go right to it. I wouldn't be surprised if the raccoon came creeping around shortly after the sun went down. Might be worth sitting somewhere in earshot and listen.

 

[flash5153]

Well,,,the traps were empty and the ducks made it through the night. I'm no expert ,,but these are not small ducks. What ever it was drug them 50-100 yards and then gave up.(out in wide open yard) I'm not sure an owl could even move them that far.I know they were moved and not killed there,,, because my female would not ever leave the coop area,,stayed close all the time.
One thing that I don't understand. There are some small woods and thick hedge rows very close to the coop area. What animal would drag a kill into the open instead of cover??? ( Unless it chased the duck into open before the kill.)