Totally creepy!

[Ozark Chicken]

Hmmm I've had to put my own dogs down in the past. Thats always a bad day. Still no different than taking care of cattle, horses, or chickens when they cannot be saved or it becomes cost prohibitive to continue treatments for whatever reason. No judgements, It always makes for a bad day. It's just the way things are on a farm. If an animal can reasonably be rehomed ( I still think thats an amusing term) then I'm all for it as long as it's not just relocating a problem. I truly respect other opinions. They're just not my opinions.

 

[Bettacreek]

Quote:
I'd say that you're way past the time to have shot the dog. I would be VERY mad if it was a repeat offender. You're right, people would be outraged if stray animals were slaughtering cute little chihuahuas. Either way, time to step up and rid yourself of a pest.

 

[wildorchid053]

what i want to know is if the cat was shot in the rib cage it most surely died quickly.. who was near enough to your place and chickens to pull the trigger in your yard?. i would be afraid of flying bullets

 

[Bettacreek]

Quote:
It was caught in the lower rib cage. It came at least from two houses over, which is where I stopped following the blood trail, since I was carrying a shotgun around. Technically, nobody's supposed to be shooting, but we're a little bit "redneck" around here I suppose.

 

[bakerjw]

Dogs in my yard get stung with a BB or pellet. A single pump or 2 on the air rifle is enough to get the message across and dogs have a good enough memory to know not to come back. I did have to fire off 3 warning shots at a pit bull from the neighbors house who was challenging me in my back yard one night though. Woke up most of the neighborhood and the neighbors who own the dog know what the repercussions will be if it is in my yard again.

Unfortunately I have to tolerate cats. My sister in law lives right by us and has cats. A lot of cats. I believe that she's down to 13 or 14 now but new feral ones show up all of the time and are given a home. An no rabies shots. I don't see them around my house but if any do decide to start messing with my girls I don't believe that I'll be too forgiving. Much easier to pop one of them and pitch it in the ditch where it will be assumed that it was hit by a car. I'll let things slide until they start getting destructive.

And as for coons. My wife's aunt (who incidentally owns the pit bull) used to feed them off of her back deck. When she stopped they started hanging around every other houses looking for food. Total nuisance.

 

[fowltemptress]

Well, as weird and creepy as that is, I sure do hope it was the culprit and the killings stop. If it was someone trying to help you out who tossed the body there . . . huh.


I was about to say the theoretical helpful neighbor, if that is the case, may have a few screws loose, but I remembered that just last year I left a package on a friend's stoop containing a chicken head as a joke (he's a fan of The Godfather), so I'm not one to be making judgments about that sort of thing.

 

[Terpsichore94]

I'm sorry you lost so many birds, thats big no fun. My husband built us a coop that we've been calling fort chicken and just last evening succesfully fended off our neighbor's dog. She did some decent damage to one of the boards though. I think it's one thing to "let their pets roam free all day to enjoy themselves", IF they aren't doing any harm. Its a whole 'nother story when they are destroying things or eating your other pets or livestock (and this dog is know for being a nuisance tearing up flowers and harming newly planted trees). Our first thought is to get a BB gun and zing her whenever we catch her tearing at our coop and our second is to fence our whole back yard in so the dog can't near the coop(which has alot of merit but boy is that going to be expensive). But our other neighbor who has chickens has told us first time she eats one of his chickens, he'll warn our mutual neighbor and then he'll shoot her the next time she does it.

There is a "law of the farm" ... if its not earning its keep or its eating your other livestock it has to go(even if its your OWN dog). And even chickens on occasion turn cannibal pecking until another chicken is a bloodied mess and sometimes eating their own eggs(and I don't think they can be rehabilitated).

Oh and I remembered another story, about my aunt's little dachshund who last winter kept getting mauled by a bunch of neighborhood big dogs running around the area in a pack. She would go out to potty and end up hiding under the cars in fear of her life. I know one time she ended up very badly hurt and those dogs are someone elses "beloved pets"... but it's so not right them trying to kill someone elses beloved pet. It maybe a hard line to draw but it has to be drawn sometimes.

 

[yotetrapper]

Quote:
It was caught in the lower rib cage. It came at least from two houses over, which is where I stopped following the blood trail, since I was carrying a shotgun around. Technically, nobody's supposed to be shooting, but we're a little bit "redneck" around here I suppose.

Hahahaha roaming around in town carrying a shotgun, following a blood trail. Probably thought you was a murderer. Or at least a deer poacher, LOL.

 

[WingingIt]

Did you hear anything that could have been a shot? I reallly hope someone didn't throw a dead cat into your yard.

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
It seems to me that, if it was a beloved pet, that the owner would be keeping it in their yard. Most cats don't bother adult chickens, but there are exceptions. Whether an animal is a pet or a predator depends on which side of the fence its on.