Kid lost his first chicken to a fox

[NewcoopNewpoop]

I am hoping to find some parenting type advice. My 9 year old son just lost his pet chicken to a fox this morning. He had left the gate open to the pen last night and no one noticed. The ladies went on a freerange and a fox we have known about nabbed her outside the pen.
My kids are understandably upset, but how do i help them with their rage towards the fox?

 

[Evadig]

I'm sorry about the loss of your chicken.

My sister had three baby turtles she kept in a kiddie pool on the deck. One night a raccoon came and ate all three. She was furious.

I told her that the raccoon wasn't a mean or wicked raccoon, he was just doing as nature intended. Raccoons have to eat too. And her turtles were a whole lot easier to get than the others, and predators will always go for the easiest meal. Who wouldn't?

She still is upset with that raccoon and mourns those turtles (that was four years ago). But I think she has finally come to understand you can't fault the predator for doing what it was created to do.

Hope this helps !

 

[NewcoopNewpoop]

I'm sorry about the loss of your chicken.

My sister had three baby turtles she kept in a kiddie pool on the deck. One night a raccoon came and ate all three. She was furious.

I told her that the raccoon wasn't a mean or wicked raccoon, he was just doing as nature intended. Raccoons have to eat too. And her turtles were a whole lot easier to get than the others, and predators will always go for the easiest meal. Who wouldn't?

She still is upset with that raccoon and mourns those turtles (that was four years ago). But I think she has finally come to understand you can't fault the predator for doing what it was created to do.

Hope this helps !

Thank you, and I agree. I think this may be a very long process to acceptance. One boy swears on revenge..

 

[Penpal]

If your family eats meat, remind your son that you also eat other creatures. Now that he knows there are animals that eat chickens, he can use this as a learning experience.

I put a spring on the hinge side of the gate that kept our dog in because I knew with a three year old and 7 other kids that gate was not going be latched shut every time someone used it. Whether the gate was opened into the pen or out of the pen the spring would pull it shut. I also had a latch that self latched, not the kind that you pull over the top. Worked like a charm.

 

[NewcoopNewpoop]

Its going to take some moderate remediation to make the gates self closing, but worth the investment.
We found the body. Another round of tears, and a burial. The fox just ate the head and the top of the thigh and that was it. Made me kinda mad.
While i was moving her in a box i guess the jarring motion caused her innards to push against her diaphram and it somehow made those contented chicken sounds like when they are scratching together for food in their flock. Freaked me out.