Something is out there and I can't figure out what it is

[Ewe Mama2]

Hi all - we are trying to identify what got three of our 8 Khakis about two weeks ago and aren't having any luck. At first we thought it was a stray cat, then we thought maybe a raccoon, and now we are wondering if it was a fisher cat. Have fisher cats been seen in NE Ohio? Are they solitary hunters, or do they pair up? I was just checking out a noise in the backyard and saw two animals, roughly the size and shape of raccoons, but were lighter in color and didn't have the raccoon markings. They didn't move like raccoons, either. Does anyone have any idea what my hungry visitors could have been?

As for the damage that was actually done to the ducklings, 1 was ripped open (head attached) without being eaten, 1 was killed but not ripped open, and the third was totally gone (we never found her remains). All three were killed the same night. The remaining ducklings are in safer housing now, but the predator keeps coming back for another try.

Any guesses? I appreciate your help and insight.

 

[MysticScorpio82]

To answer your questions about Fishers, it doesn't sound like that is what is killing your ducks. They are solitary hunters and have darker fur. Here is a link about fishers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_(animal)

To me it sounds like 2 cats or racoons (though you have already identified them as definately not coons) A fox would normally just take the kills with them, not leave mangled bodies. I wish I could be more help, but I am really not sure of what predator you have except it is not a Fisher.

I am sorry for your losses.

 

[Brindlebtch]

'Coons can have lighter color phases. Some of then are quite blond.
Don't know about the not moving like a racoon part, though.

 

[eestep8]

Could it be bobcats? or dogs? or opossums?

Just naming things that live in Ohio that are about that size/color lol

Our cats like to play/kill mice and birds but then leave the bodies without eating them, so they could be cats.

 

[Judy]

Where are you? What are the known predators in your area?

 

[mechagrue]

Could it have been badgers? I see that they are native to Ohio, and they fit your description of "raccoons without the markings, which moved differently."

Video: "Frolicking with badgers " I guess I would think they were a lot less cute if they had just eaten my chickens! Might help you see if they move like the animals you saw in your yard.

 

[chilisweet]

oppossums (sp?). they do exactly what you described to birdies.

sorry you are having this problem. We had possums last year and I'm hoping they dont come back again, but we will see.

~Caran

 

[Featherwisp]

Possums do eat chickens. They also eat the eggs of chickens too.
From what I have read, they seem to have a certain way of killing a bird...
they seem to start at the head and work their way down.

 

[DiVon80]

Quote:

 

[Shesapip]

It could be an opossum. I bought a year-old RIR from a guy 2 weeks after she'd been attacked by a huge 'possum. He'd caught it in the act because of a henhouse ruckus in the middle of the night.

Poor Baby had all her feathers and outer skin, from her wings on back, scraped off of her, with four mangled, pathetic tail feathers left.

Her owner had been letting her heal on her own

and left her out with all the other girls, but I kept her inside in a dog crate for a few days and treated her.

That 'possum's mouth must have been huge to get around a full-grown RIR's back end!

So it could've been a couple of 'possums.

If they hunt in pairs, that is. Which seems doubtful,

since that would take more brains than they're known to have.

Never mind.