Sad loss of a gallant gander

[MichaelN]

Thanks Mr KK - appreciate your taking the time.
Mike

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you Miss Lydia

Did you ever find anything of your gander? feathers? My Embden gander is so big and heavy it would have to be a big fox or coyote to carry him off.

 

[MichaelN]

Hello Miss Lydia,
This is the strange thing - there was absolutely no sign of anything out of the ordinary, no sign of a struggle and no "ravaged feathers". He was a big bird, when he stood upright on tip toe to give his wings a good work out, his head would be at my chest level and I am 5' 10". We have no other predators here, only foxes and he must have been the body builder of foxes to have taken Boyna.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Hello Miss Lydia,
This is the strange thing - there was absolutely no sign of anything out of the ordinary, no sign of a struggle and no "ravaged feathers". He was a big bird, when he stood upright on tip toe to give his wings a good work out, his head would be at my chest level and I am 5' 10". We have no other predators here, only foxes and he must have been the body builder of foxes to have taken Boyna.

Oh i am so very sorry for your loss

I have to mention too the human predator cannot be ruled out with no evidence of a fight. I have 4 Embden and 2 African as pets. I have lost count of the comments of Christmas dinner.

My 2 Embden ganders are ferocious towards anything out of place, i hope it wasn't the case here. Mine are well imprinted with human contact. They do the low neck strut and wing flutter but will visit the stranger because they trust people.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh i am so very sorry for your loss

I have to mention too the human predator cannot be ruled out with no evidence of a fight. I have 4 Embden and 2 African as pets. I have lost count of the comments of Christmas dinner.

My 2 Embden ganders are ferocious towards anything out of place, i hope it wasn't the case here. Mine are well imprinted with human contact. They do the low neck strut and wing flutter but will visit the stranger because they trust people.

I'm sorry to say but i was wondering the same if possibly human.

 

[MichaelN]

Oh i am so very sorry for your loss

I have to mention too the human predator cannot be ruled out with no evidence of a fight. I have 4 Embden and 2 African as pets. I have lost count of the comments of Christmas dinner.

My 2 Embden ganders are ferocious towards anything out of place, i hope it wasn't the case here. Mine are well imprinted with human contact. They do the low neck strut and wing flutter but will visit the stranger because they trust people.

Thanks for your comment. I have to rule out human as I live in a very secluded area, about 1/4 way up a mountain/forest track and the road is only used by locals, (it does not really lead anywhere, so is of no use to "passing traffic"), one of whom is a farmer and lives about 1 mile below me and another person about 2 miles further up. The approach is very steep and only one car width wide, with lots of tight twists and turns and the driveway off the road to my place is a couple of hundred yards of stony ground, so any car or even a person walking ( if anyone IS walking about up here in the wilderness, then they are totally mad!!) is easily heard as it is SO quiet

.

I guess it is all part of having livestock, but it would be nice to know how this happened.
Mike

 

[RURU]

Hi Mike I am so sorry you lost your gander. I see you iive in Ireland. By any chance do you have wolfs? They would just come by and chace and grab the bird and run off with it. Just like a coyote would. I have foxes come by here think my place wa arun through quick meal place. They would run by grab a duck and off they run..
Sounds like to me maybe a wolf. Do you have mountain lions?

Again so sorry to hear you lost you gander.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Thanks for your comment. I have to rule out human as I live in a very secluded area, about 1/4 way up a mountain/forest track and the road is only used by locals, (it does not really lead anywhere, so is of no use to "passing traffic"), one of whom is a farmer and lives about 1 mile below me and another person about 2 miles further up. The approach is very steep and only one car width wide, with lots of tight twists and turns and the driveway off the road to my place is a couple of hundred yards of stony ground, so any car or even a person walking ( if anyone IS walking about up here in the wilderness, then they are totally mad!!) is easily heard as it is SO quiet

.

I guess it is all part of having livestock, but it would be nice to know how this happened.
Mike

Its hard to deal with. painful to say the least. I hope you find the answer too.

 

[MichaelN]

Hi Mike I am so sorry you lost your gander. I see you iive in Ireland. By any chance do you have wolfs? They would just come by and chace and grab the bird and run off with it. Just like a coyote would. I have foxes come by here think my place wa arun through quick meal place. They would run by grab a duck and off they run..
Sounds like to me maybe a wolf. Do you have mountain lions?

Again so sorry to hear you lost you gander.

Hello Barb, thanks for writing, lovely to hear from you.
The only predators here are foxes. There are not any snakes at all, not a single one. The myth go's that St Patrick banished all snakes from Ireland, but it is in fact something to do with the history of the earth and all of it's temperature changes. When snakes first "evolved", Ireland was still under water, so snakes could not get here. Any snakes that DID manage to come when the seas subsided and there was a possibility that snakes could get here, were killed off in the last Ice Age. Strangely enough, Iceland, Greenland, Antartica and I THINK New Zealand (and that is because we are all islands that formed during the ice age,so no land access afterwards), are the only other countries that do not have any wild or natural snakes (of course, there are zoos, pets etc).
Many years ago, Ireland did have many pairs of White Tailed fish eagles - these all died out. 5 years ago, the wildlife protection authority tried to re-introduce the eagles to Killarney National park in Co. Kerry, but the bloody farmers, ignorantly thinking they would take the lambs, put poison bait down and killed them all off again!

So, nothing as nasty as wolves or mountain lions - just your common old fox! How boring is that?

 

[RURU]

Hi Michael and very nice to meet you. Sorry it had to be in this manner.

I had preditors between the foxes and the racoons as well dogs running lose it is hard to keep them away from the poor ducks and geese..... When they treat your place like a run through restaurant that just sucks.............
This is the very first year that we had rouble with a hawk. Just a couple weeks ago one got our only female duck Fancy that we had for 5 years. Now poor dada is so lonely but at least he has the geese to hide amoungst to help keep safe. If there is such a thing anymore. Between foxes, racoons, running dogs and hawks I am sick of them....
So I do know just how you feel. My

to you from a far away. I wish you could solve your question of what did it, but looks like the fox wins on who did it......

(RURU) Barb