Need help identifying the predator

Pyxis

Hatchi Wan Kenobi
13 Years
Mar 27, 2012
22,272
54,209
1,312
Vermont
My Coop
My Coop
Something has now eaten all of my ducks but one, and last night was the most gruesome attack. Whatever it was somehow reached under their coop (which how has hardware cloth all along the edge) and killed my last female duck and grabbed my drake while he tried to protect her. The drake lived, but he's depressed and in and out of shock. I need to know what's doing this so I can trap it and kill it.

I didn't get pictures of the wounds - I was so upset about it that my dad took the body away and buried her. I can tell you that on my survivor, his feathers are all matted down around his neck with saliva or something and the female was killed by an attack to her neck. That much I saw. I did find some tracks leading out of the woods, so I took pictures. They may just be cat tracks from my cat - I don't know. I also took pictures of how the predator managed to pull the ducks' heads out under the coop. Also, I did find the body of one of the other ducks that was taken and whatever did it ate just the head and nothing else. I can't say for sure that it was the same thing that attacked last night, though.

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You may very well be dealing with a member of the weasel family. My first guess is a mink closely followed by fisher. They are relatively easy to trap in a box trap. Part of a killed bird would be an excellent attractant. They are persistent tenacious killers and will not leave as long as there is a food source (your birds) present. Little round 'cat like' foot prints are a giveaway.

If footprints are larger than a cat print you may be dealing with a member of the cat family - bobcat or lynx.
 
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They were about the size of a house cat, maybe a little smaller. What size trap am I gonna need to get this thing? Whatever killed the birds was too big to go under the coop and in (thank goodness) and the duck wasn't eaten, just killed.
 

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