Predator killed my rabbit. Need help.

[jnicholes]

WARNING: GRAPHIC POST

I went out to check on my rabbit Sophie today, and I discovered this:

I posted before about her dying, and made a mistake, because she was still alive. This time, there is no doubt.

Something killed her last night.

I’m setting up my trail camera tonight, to try and figure out what the culprit was that did this.

Here is where I need help. Judging from the picture, can anybody tell what did this? Raccoon? Hawk? What could’ve done it?

I also need some emotional support. I’m pretty devastated. She was nine years old.

RIP Sophie.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Looks to me like a dog attack. Dogs kill for the fun of it, and shake their prey/toys. Coyotes, fox, etc would have eaten her or taken her away. So sorry for your loss!!!

 

[jnicholes]

No offense, but my run is not that wide. I don’t think a dog could’ve done that.

 

[Lovely Lettie]

No offense, but my run is not that wide. I don’t think a dog could’ve done that.

A some dogs are about as big as a rabbit.

 

[jnicholes]

A some dogs are about as big as a rabbit.

Even if it was that small, I don’t see a way for the dog to get in. I’m currently investigating.

 

[nuthatched]

I'm sorry you lost your pet.
It could be any predator, her pen looks open to many things. but I'd vote for a raptor.

 

[jnicholes]

WARNING: GRAPHIC POST.

The investigation is ongoing, but I got some more updated photos and information.

Here are the clues so far:

Something killed the rabbit and left it behind.

Bones were scattered near the rabbit carcass.

The rabbits lower jaw and one front foot are missing.

Only a little rabbit fur is scattered in the run.

Images of the animal crime scene.

ETA: it happened at night. She was alive before I went to bed.

 

[ihatedarkroast]

https://web.extension.illinois.edu/...ion.cfm?ThreadID=13224&catID=221&AskSiteID=90 May have some clues.

In the past when I had a dog that killed rabbits, there were no open wounds like that. Just shaken to death. The whole rabbit would be left behind with fur damp and neck broken, but no other outside signs of injury. I also had dogs that would catch groundhogs. But they always pulled the head off and ate it. Then they would disembowl the lower abdomen and pull the guts out to eat below the ribcage. It could be a hawk that was large enough to kill the rabbit, but found the rabbit was too heavy to fly off with comfortably, so just had dinner there instead. A second reason why I'm going to guess it was a bird, is it appears it might have started with the eyeball --shiny, and that's a bird thing.

Either way, I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[jnicholes]

I'm sorry you lost your pet.
It could be any predator, her pen looks open to many things. but I'd vote for a raptor.

We have several raptors that fly around here. Hawks and owls, mainly. They haven’t taken her before, I wonder why they took her now?

 

[OneHappyDuckie]

It doesn't look like a raptor to me, but I could be wrong on that. To be honest I've never seen anything like that and I've had raccoons, foxes, and hawks. A rat, maybe? I hope you can find something on the trail cam.

I'm so sorry for your loss