Opossum Playing Dead

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Rooapalooza said:
I'm sorry you lost chickens. It is not acceptable to kill or hurt and dog for that though. If dogs are able to get to your chickens that is on you (and the owner), not them. Dogs are not malicious, it's just their basic instinct, not to mention a really fun chase. I've had chickens killed by my neighbor's dog. My poor dumb birds
flew over the fence. Yesterday I had a dog in my field terrorizing my chickens. He caught one little hen and ran around with her but I was able to retrieve her alive. The poor girls who had lost control of the dog started kicking it when they caught it, which is not cool. It had no idea what it did wrong and hitting a dog is not an appropriate training method anyway.

There's a hierarchy to these things. To many people dogs are members of the family. Killing a dog that killed your kid is alright. Killing a kid that killed your dog is not. Killing a dog for killing a chicken is a disproportionate response. Talk to the owner and be civil. It's a good idea to get along with your neighbors anyway.

Sorry that is off- topic, OP. Possums have killed my young chickens, eaten crazy numbers of eggs, and eaten a lot of chicken feed. My rooster and hens don't raise the alarm about them either. They absolutely play dead and can be very brazen. I had a possum on my lit porch eating my cat's food. The first time it ran when I came out. Eventually it didn't even look up from eating when I shot it with a bb gun. Ethically and legally I think it's okay to kill possums if they are causing problems for you, just do it quickly and respectfully.
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So it's ok to kill a possum for eating my cats food but not alright to kill a dog for eating my chickens?
Seems a bit backwards to me.
Yes if a dog comes over and kills my birds then ya if I would of taken more secure measures then probably wouldn't happen but it not my responsibility to keep a dog off my property it's the owners to keep their dog on theirs.
What if their dog comes over and continues to eat my cats food? Alright to kill it then?
 
centrarchid said:
I killed it and be killing some more. Just crossing the yard will be enough reason.

Thread to relate an observation providing better understanding. Your addition is beating dead horse to death.
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Ah, so this thread is about watching opossum.
Sorry, didn't mean to compliment someone else's post here.
But where's this dead horse? I think I'm the only one (or at least the first) who made the mistake of mentioning that I liked a link posted here.
Won't happen again.
 
Cryss said:
But where's this dead horse?
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Sorry my bad.
I toted it home to see how my dogs would react to a dead horse since I couldn't find a possum to play dead.
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My chickens were in the pen and not bothering the neighbors dog in any way. It wasn't as if they were taunting him seductively to come and break their neck. And by the way they were not eaten, just left in the neighbors yard for me to see and him to ignore. The dogs ripped a large hole through the side of the pen. Rooapalooza, I did not actually shoot the dog, I only said I felt like it in my post of last month and have still not lived that one down. The dog lovers came out of the woodwork then too.:barnieIf I offended anyone else with My earlier post, then I apologize to the dog and possum lovers out there. Maybe I can get some chicken lovers on my side next time at a site for back yard chickens...
 
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I have had a opossum kill a few of my chickens. They are fearless really and I now have a light on in my pen at night to deter them. My chickens free range for a couple hours in the afternoon and I sometimes don't get the pen door closed until its dark so I have to check real good before closing the door to the pen. They will hide in the shadows. They are sneaky. Winter time is the worst - even in Florida!
 
I wouldn't kill any animal for eating my cat's food/chicken feed. It's annoying, but there are easier, kinder solutions.

I wouldn't kill any animal for going after my chickens either, even though I love them like crazy. I don't judge people who do kill wild predators, because sometimes I'm sure there isn't another solution.

There's an obvious difference between killing a wild animal and a domesticated one. I love my dogs, cats, and birds like members of my family and if any person killed one of them on purpose, I would be devastated. Don't be cruel is all I'm saying.

**Sorry to be a downer. My friend's dogs were killed by his neighbor and it was a really hard situation.
My current neighbors threatened to kill my chickens for getting into their lawn. I didn't realize it had been a problem. Had they told me nicely I would have offered to replace any eaten plants/displaced mulch and given them some free eggs. If was a better person I would still do that. But if they actually killed one of my chickens I don't know if I could get past it.
 
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