Something ripped my hardware cloth!

[Mamachick719]

I noticed this on my coop yesterday. It's about 4 ft up. There were also a couple piles of pink colored vomit (or at least that is what it looked like). I noticed it in the evening before the sun was down, but it could have happened over night, as I didn't walk around the back of the coop when I let them out this morning. The chickens did not seem stressed, but when I noticed it this evening I also noticed that in the tall grass (About 2ft) that surrounds our property, there was rustling, it seemed like something was "stalking" around. I was quite surprised that something could just rip right through the hardware cloth...any ideas?

 

[chicmom]

Wow, what a surprise! I wonder if a large dog could do that....Are you near anyplace where bears could be, or coyotes? Those are my guesses........Very scary!

Maybe you could take another piece of hardware cloth, and some wire, and attach a patch.......From what I can see you've got a very nice coop.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

I'm curious to know also, interesting.

 

[JeffOeuf]

Looks like a baseball bat hit, to me.

 

[Mamachick719]

We did have a juvenile black bear near here a couple months ago, but the DNR tracked it heading north up the river. That certainly doesn't rule out a bear though. I am going to patch it as you suggested tonight until my DH can give it a permanent fix later in the week.

Setting up a wildlife camera tonight, so hopefully we will find out what it is!

Baseball bat, that's an interesting theory...

 

[7L Farm]

Looks like something ran into the wire maybe a riding mower.

 

[The Lazy L]

Looks like something ran into the wire maybe a riding mower.

"4 feet up" Awful tall riding lawn mower don't you think?

 

[Gypsi]

A big cat - mountain lion if you have any of those.

 

[Pidgey104]

keep us posted very intesting

 

[smilingcat]

Years ago, we had a golden who did not like to be in a kennel. he freaked while in a kennel and destroyed about 1' wide x 2' tall section of the chain link fence. Dogs teeth and jaw looked fine. That dog have easily caused the damage in the photo but I would think if a predator was trying, I think it would have left a much larger area of damage. Bears don't give up nor will dogs, coyote. And the damage looks like its "one bite" . Unlike a chain link fence, you would also expect there to be blood from the gum or from their paws.

I'm curious as to what caused it.

lawn mower? maybe something big flew out from the mower, a large rock?