I need suggestions please

[lovemymuskovies]

I have a very long story to share, but I will spare you too many details and answer questions if you have any. I own over 70 chickens and 6 (used to be 7) ducks, one (used to be 2) dogs and a cat. We installed a privacy fence around our yard last year because our neighbor torments us terribly by killing my plants, grass and destroyed our vegetable garden a couple years ago. They have killed over 20 chickens by either breaking their necks and possibly poisoning them. February 5 of this year our dog died in my arms with no warning. He looked at us as if to ask if it's okay to die, once we gave him that okay, he went over to his bed, I grabbed him and held him until he took his last breath. A month before he died we took him to the vet. They ran blood work on him which came back perfect. They told us he had at least 5-7 years left the way he was going; his liver, kidneys, heart etc..., were in perfect condition and the blood work was perfect readings. About 3 weeks later our Muscovy duck died. It was a Wednesday morning I let her out of the coop with the other ducks and the chickens, she was great, she came out happy and played and ate all day long. That afternoon she went into the coop and laid there just staring at me. She was the type of duck that would attack my feet just to be held and hugged and just for attention. She would fight me with her wings just to get whatever it was she wanted. That afternoon I noticed her red face was pale with no red at all. Thursday morning my daughter went to the coop and found her dead. I immediately had her wrapped up and sent to be autopsied. After 4 weeks of viral, bacterial and poison testing, it came back that she was poisoned with rat poison.

Our neighbors have tormented us so much that we had to install a 6 ft privacy fence just to protect what animals I had left along with all my trees and plants etc. The husband of that household has been in my yard by crossing our fence and contaminated my vegetable garden with choker weed seeds. He throws rocks at the back of my chicken coops late at night. The things he has done would take me a long time to type it out and explain. So, I will spare those details.

I don't know what to do. I am at a loss. I have a sick and dying husband, and my health has gone way down over all of this especially after my pets deaths. I need help. Is there anyone here that can give me direction as to what I can do about this? I know it is my neighbor doing all of this. I have witnessed the wife killing animals by torturing them to death. One example is, she shot a black snake and picked it up, took it to the middle of the road and left it. I asked her why she did that, her response was to watch the cars run it over and over. Two years ago I found over 50 dead wild birds in my yard. They were in the nesting boxes along with their babies, in my pond in the yard etc. I found out later they poisoned them by poisoning my bird bath. It was too late to do anything about it because I threw all the evidence away not knowing exactly what to do. I did contact the DCNR and they did come to my home, but I didn't save any of the birds, and I didn't realize at the time they were poisoned, I thought maybe a disease was killing them. I thought I heard him by my bird bath the night before, so I went to clean it out and that's when I found the foam once I ran clean water in the birdbath. So, I spared the birds from being poisoned again. I did contact DCNR again and explained to them that's how the birds died. Since I didn't have the evidence any longer, it was too late to do anything about it, but they did take note on it.

If anyone can give me advice I would be so grateful to you. Thank you.

 

[eggbert420]

I know what I would do.

 

[missprissychick]

I would put a security camera up and file charges for trespassing and harassment. If you can I would ask the cops about animal cruelty charges and provide them with the autopsy results.

 

[Devw]

I am incredibly sickened that this happened to you. If you get the issue resolved, please let us know.

I agree with missyprissychick about the security cameras. I would also format as detailed as possible list of harassments, once there is evidence from the security cameras. If they poison another bird (I hope not!), have a necropsy done as soon as possible and then keep the results on file (you might even be able to use the previous records from your other animals.)

You may even want to seek out a lawyer, to make sure that your neighbors can't do this again.

 

[buff goose guy]

I just dont see why someone would do this, it breaks my heart. Please. please do whatever you have to do to stop him if u find him on your property you can shoot him for trespassing because you thought it was a robber. I really want these people stopped it is saddening to hear this happen.

 

[lovemymuskovies]

Originally Posted by missprissychick

I would put a security camera up and file charges for trespassing and harassment. If you can I would ask the cops about animal cruelty charges and provide them with the autopsy results.

One of the things I didn't mention is we do have 8 cameras, spread all around our yard, along with a bright light that would light up a football field, that we just had installed a couple months ago. Oh, it makes me sick to know we had to lock ourselves up inside a 6-foot privacy fence, we have 8 cameras rolling 24/7 and have a light so bright that it drowns out the beautiful night sky. And he still found a way to kill my pets!! I hate it. I went from living in a country setting to feeling like I live in a bad part of town etc. He has so many years experience doing what he does he is actually good at concealing himself and not be seen. He is creepy. We actually caught him at night once wearing an infrared eyepiece to help himself get around in the dark, and he was wearing all black from head to toe, nothing showing at all. As far as your suggestions, I appreciate it very much and will consider it. I will keep you informed. I just appreciate your support and help. When someone goes through this much stress it is so hard to think about what steps to take to resolve these horrible problems our neighbor is causing us. When you lose a pet or even a loved one through the hands of an evil person, it seems as though everything stops and before we know it we are in such a depressed state of mind we can't get beyond that moment in time. So, thank you for your suggestions and your kind words.

I would put a security camera up and file charges for trespassing and harassment. If you can I would ask the cops about animal cruelty charges and provide them with the autopsy results.

 

[lovemymuskovies]

Thank you, I do have some notes, but I forgot to take down dates and times of when he threw rocks at the coops. I do have all the rocks, in fact, these rocks are not just normal rocks, they are rocks you use for stabilizing when pouring concrete or cement pads. They did have a truck load of them delivered to their home and they do have them laid out behind their garage, and I have a bucket full that he threw at the coops, it's a wonder he didn't put huge dents in the buildings. As far as the necropsy results, I just received the report in the mail today, so I am hanging onto them until I find the right hands to put them in. This just happened in February, and results are finalized and sent to my home today. I did reply to one of the other comments stating that I do have 8 cameras in my yard along with a huge bright light that we had installed a couple months ago, and HE still managed to kill my pets! This is how evil and stealthy he is. I think he crawls along the other side of our fence and puts the poison through the cracks late at night so he can't be seen. That has to be the only way that I can think of. I just hope I resolve this matter to our satisfaction. I don't want to make any mistakes in the process. We only have one chance to put this man where he belongs JAIL!! I want to seek retribution for the expense of protecting ourselves ie fence, lights, cameras. Then we have medical bills too. My husband's illness has progressed since all the abuse began. I am so worried!! It's strange how our minds get so clouded by this stuff that I can't think what to do. That's why I reached out to you all here. I love Backyard Chickens, and every time I have ever needed answers this is where I go because there are wonderful people here with so much insight from a baby chicken or duck being born to something like this, in fact, the last time I needed help was when Pippie (my duck that is dead now) was born . I have always found satisfaction coming here. I haven't visited this site in so long, I forgot my username and password LOL, so I had to sign back up with a new name and password. Sometimes I come here and just read subjects that I am going through with my little babies and always find the answer. Okay, I am rambling please forgive me, I just want you to know how much I appreciate you and your response. I promise to keep you informed.

I am incredibly sickened that this happened to you. If you get the issue resolved, please let us know.

I agree with missyprissychick about the security cameras. I would also format as detailed as possible list of harassments, once there is evidence from the security cameras. If they poison another bird (I hope not!), have a necropsy done as soon as possible and then keep the results on file (you might even be able to use the previous records from your other animals.)

You may even want to seek out a lawyer, to make sure that your neighbors can't do this again.

 

[lovemymuskovies]

I just dont see why someone would do this, it breaks my heart. Please. please do whatever you have to do to stop him if u find him on your property you can shoot him for trespassing because you thought it was a robber. I really want these people stopped it is saddening to hear this happen.

I think about your very statement every day, why do people do this type of evil behavior? I just don't get it myself. I cry so much over what these people have done to my animals, my plants, trees, grass, but most importantly what it has done to my husband, I forgot to mention in my message that our dog died on his birthday; February 5th. My husband and I will never get over the loss of our lovely chickens and ducks, but our dog was so very special to us. He was an American Eskimo that was abused when he was a puppy. The guy was going to Euthanize him at 12 weeks old because nobody would buy him. We took him immediately with no question. Sparky (dog) hated that guy so much. We never regretted taking him into our lives. He was so intelligent. Oh, I could go on and on about that lovely dog. I miss him so bad. What makes me sick most of all is the vet told us he had at least 5-7 years left to live because of how well we took care of him, then he dies about a month or less later? No apparent reason at all! We didn't do an autopsy on him because the weather was horrible, I just kick myself for not taking him down to be tested. I honestly do not know why we didn't do it. The pathologist asked me to unbury him and bring him in because she was suspicious especially when I told her what the vet told us. Unfortunately, I told her that he was cremated due to the frozen ground. I did ask her if she could find out if ashes could be tested. If he died of rat poison it had to be a good amount that killed my 55 lbs dog. She hasn't gotten back with me, I mean it's worth asking even if they say no.

Then we have little Pippie (muskovy) she hatched in my hands less than 3 years ago. We raised her in our house because mommy and daddy wouldn't take care of her, so I was mommy to her. She had a unique personality that beats all. She was demanding and knew how to get whatever she wanted LOL. I miss greeting her every morning now. I would open the pen door, and here she comes full force squawking toward me, with her wings ready to punch me in the legs if I didn't pick her up to hug and kiss her. Muscovies have what I call little nubs at the edge of their wings, and let me tell you, she could beat any boxer in the ring. She knew how to use them little fists and she used them well. I had bruises to prove it. If she didn't use her little fists, she would use her bill to bite at my ankles. I never ever considered her to be a mean duck because we understood each other. I always knew what she wanted when she wanted it. We used to take her to McDonald's about once every 3 months and buy french fries. The first time I ever took her there and bought fries, she ripped that bag apart and grabbed one and from there on she was addicted LOL. The employees just loved her so much. She would get only one and that was pretty much enough for her, but she loved em. if she saw me with a shovel in my hand, she would come running and spreading her wings with excitement to almost singing a song, "a hunting we are going, a hunting we are going mommy and me are going hunting for worms today, yes, mommy and me are going hunting for worms today" AND NOBODY ELSE CAN COME WITH US! LOL. We loved her so much. I miss her greeting me in the mornings, and kissing me goodnight every night. The night before she died (the next morning) she just stared at me with no emotions as if she was telling me she was scared because she didn't know what was happening and there was absolutely nothing I could do for her. The autopsy test came back with rat poison, but in that report, it also said that she was well nourished and very healthy, which tells me she could have lived her full life expectancy. She didn't have any diseases etc., just rat poison in the liver. I am sick about this.

Thank you for your kindness and support, I really do feel your passion. If anything I will always be grateful to all of you for your responses and kind support. I promise to keep you all informed of what happens. I just hope I can find justice for my babies, property and my husbands and my distress. I just want this cloud that is in my head to pass and everything back to normal again. I must admit, it will never go back to normal again because of our babies who are no longer with us. Thank you again. And, thank you for listening to me ramble.