If you have one, set up a game camera. You may be surprised at the number and kind of animals that come through your area over a given period of time. And not every individual animal comes back immediately. Many larger animals are believed to have circuits that they travel over a week or two.
My general point is: you may very well be killing a completely innocent animal. They do exist. But the niche that animal fills in the ecosystem will be filled by another animal. One that may not be so innocent. For this reason I do not advocate killing every animal that walks onto one's property or by one's chicken coop. It is not a popular position; it opens me to ridicule. But I hope that chicken keeping exposes us all to the fact that animals are individuals. I advocate having a secure run and coop.
