Was it murder? Dead duck inquiry...

[moenmitz]

This morning we found our 4 month old Pekin lying near the turkey pen with a giant, softball sized hole in its abdominal cavity. Its gizzard and entrails lay nearby, and it was covered in ants. Is there a predator with this M.O.? Or did it maybe die of other reasons and the geese and ducks in its pen pick at it? Could ants have eaten the hole? (Of course, ants didnt drag out the guts...) Seemed I read somewhere of something that does that....rest of the body was intact. They are not locked up at night, just penned, and this is the first casualty. Any thoughts?

 

[DrakeMaiden]

My thought is raccoon. They are wasteful predators.

 

[moenmitz]

Wouldn't a raccoon have ripped it apart more, and it wasn't really eaten at all I dont think. More just disemboweled and "chewed on".

? It is a very "neat" hole, almsot like it was "burrowed" into, so I was thinking weasel, but dont they rip heads off? And a grown Pekin is pretty big for a weasel I would think, though certainly defenseless enough. Would a raccoon stick around and chew on it on the spot, or drag it off somewhere? It was in a pen with 9 geese and five ducks, not to mention a dozen cats and a big coon-killing dog lurking nearby. I haven't seen a coon here in three years because Tim was on such a coon killing spree, they are his favorites. Doesn't mean they aren't around here of course, but it wouldn't be my first suspect anyway...

 

[DrakeMaiden]

A raccoon will generally go for the throat area and leave the rest of the body. I don't know any other predators that are so specific. Maybe someone else has a clue . . . .

 

[moenmitz]

Ok, now I was just reading the predator identification thread again...and it is sounding liek a weasel...attacking near the tail and pulling intestines out....whereas a raccoon it says will take the head-head was untouched. So, is a weasel capable of taking out a giant Pekin duck? We were scheduled to process him in 2 weeks, so he was of very good size! There were several little black runner ducks nearby that would make easier targets I would think, though they seem more alert, and definitely faster, than the Pekins, so maybe it couldn't catch one of them....

 

[Zookeeper9000]

Sounds more like a opossum to me. Hope you find out and catch it soon, as it will come back.

 

[moenmitz]

Opossum? Hadn't thought about that-I didn't realize they would take something so big! Now I was just reading up on them, and it DOES sound like a likely candidate-and I hadn't realized possums could get so large. Pekins are locked up tonight with the turkey. No room for the geese, but I figure they can defened themselves pretty well, and frankly, they are so annoying I wouldn't feel TOO terrible if they got it... The runners are still loose, but they are black, many, and speedy, so their chances are good. Whatever it is, if it comes back, I will be watching for it. They are right outside my bedroom window, and had I not had the fan in the window last night, I would have heard a racket I am sure.

I will NEVER think Opoosums are cute again....grrrrr

 

[moenmitz]

Opossums are sneaky apparently. DH sat out in the truck, parked next to the pen with his .22 all night. I slept with the iwindow open. This morning, one dead runner duck, one missing-well, I haven't foudn him yet, I suspect he is in the pasture. The one we found was killed ust like the Pekin, abdomen gone. Going to have to lock up all the cats tonight and try trapping the bugger.

 

[MissPrissy]

Possums will eat out the belly cavity.

 

[2manyhats]

Nasty creatures.