Owl eating all my pets at night!!!!!!

[brookwoodpat]

Guess what -- you are the problem. If you take in a domestic animal, you're supposed to take adequate measures to keep the animal. In this predator filled world, that means a shelter.

No one is saying your ducks can't roam free during the day. Though if you think the owl is your only predator, you will be in for an eventual shock. You should still fence an area for the ducks -- a big area with plenty of natural cover is best.

As far as nighttime, your ducks aren't nocturnal animals and they aren't roaming then. At night they are sleeping. They should be in a shelter.

You talk about how you didn't get pets to feed the wildlife -- well the wildlife were here long before your domestic pets, and unless you want to live in a pretty sterile world, they will continue to live in it. For us to introduce our domestic pet animals into a wild world, we need to be responsible and make basic provisions to keep them safe.

You have no proof the owl is the creature that is killing your ducks. It could be any number of predators. What I find worse than your attitude toward killing a protected raptor -- who does any amount of good in killing vermin in the area -- is the fact that you haven't even verified that it is the owl that is killing your ducks. IMHO, you shouldn't own pets because you haven't made the slightest attempt to do anything positive to safeguard your animals. You haven't verified what predator is after them. And you haven't taken any steps to keep the ducks safe.

Yes, it takes work to build a shelter. To hawk net an area, or otherwise cover a pen. To coop the ducks up at night and let them out in the morning. But basic care is part of owning any pet. You just don't get a two dollar duck and throw it out in the yard and then blame the wildlife for your carelessness when it gets killed. Guess what - since you did nothing, it is *your* fault it got killed. It wasn't the owl that killed your ducks. It was you.

I do hope you find a USFW officer on your doorstep. And if you kill that owl, I hope you spend the full time in jail and get a full fine. It's one thing to take out a nuisance predator like a raccoon that, in spite of an owner's best efforts, digs or tunnels through their shelters. It's another to blast away at a protected bird in retaliation for your unsheltered ducks because that's your easy answer to a problem you haven't made any attempt to responsibly address.



Now I have to go pen up my free roaming chickens for the night. Time for you to do the same for your ducks. Or if you aren't going to take care of them, then don't get any more pets until you learn some responsibility.

 

[SilkieCRZYness]

well, lets see where to start. first i have no ducks left as i stated. second, if i did, i would take the appropiate precautions and now that i have learned about the predators, i would build a shelter and house them correctly. my chickens are in a new built pen, open on top besides where they lay there eggs and roost. the walls are 8ft high. something tells me its not a coon or a coyote clearing that fence and getting out without causing a ruccus in the pen. I WAS certain all along it was a flying object and as of tonight, i saw with my own eyes that owl swoop down and snatch out another chicken. i then took RESPONSIBILITY and went out, locked the rest inside the closed section and will get some hawk net tom. Thanks for your encouraging advice to help me get this situatioin taken care of properly. If fwc shows up at my door, ill be the first to pm u and inform u what my concequences were and how long ill be in jail for not killing anything just asking ?'s and throwing out ideas.

 

[silkie-mom]

Please refer to the rules of the Predatora and Pests forum.

We don't pass judgement here.

Thanks.

 

[DuckLady]

The people replying to the OP need to review the rules of this forum.

THe OP needs to look up lfederal and local laws regarding protected species.

I am closing this thread becasue BYC doesn't condone illegal acts.