What animal would do this

[ryanconway63]

I have been raising ducks/geese/quail etc for probably 15 years now. I have had this happen on at least 3 occasions to my birds. At night something would get into the cage/pen and rip off legs mostly. I have had this happen before where a duck would still be alive when I got up in the morning but his entire leg would be ripped off. The rest of the bird was intact. I have also had 2 occasions where only the head has been taken off of my ducks and the animal left the rest of the bird there not to eat? Would could possibly be doing this?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Sounds like the work of a raccoon - they are notorious for reaching through into a pen/cage, grabbing whatever body part they can and ripping it off/pulling it through, etc.

 

[Hormesishealer]

Eating just the head sounds like a weasel. They are very crafty little buggers. They typically only eat the head and neck but not the body. Coons may eat only the leg though I've never heard of it. A raccoon is a big predator and usually eats the entire bird

 

[sandesnow]

We had geese when I was a kid, and I remember we had a raccoon attack and all they took was the breast. Sounds very much like a raccoon to me.

 

[Hormesishealer]

The post says the body of the bird wasn't eaten that one leg was ripped off. I totally agree if the beast of the bird is eaten but just the head is probably a weasel. Ol mare is spot on for coon reaching through wire."thumbs" make them more efficient than other predators

 

[Nutcup]

I used 1/4 inch wire mesh to keep coons from reaching into my pen, and snakes out. (We do have coons; haven't seen any snakes, but I don't want to chance it.).