What predator killed my geese?

Dootadoo

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Aug 15, 2016
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I had three American Buff geese who were about 4 months old that were killed sometime this morning between 8:30am and 10:00am. They were full grown and free ranged on our property. My husband left this morning and he saw them and by the time I went outside, they had been attacked and killed. The male is missing completely, no evidence of him anywhere. The females' bodies were left. One had her insides eaten and the other just had her back torn up. Their heads were still in tact and not bitten or anything.

My first assumption was a dog but I don't know for sure. I wish we had them in a fenced in area and game cameras up, but we didn't. We've seen fox on our road before but nothing else. We live North of Richmond, Virginia in the country so there are definitely lots of predators around, we just haven't seen hardly any. Does anyone have any ideas? My husband and I have been scouring the internet all day trying to figure out what happened. I'm so heartbroken...they were such beautiful geese...they follow me around like puppy dogs and would honk and run over when I called for my 'gooses.' I'm terrified to let the chickens free range now, even if we're home!

We do have two small humane traps that we will set out tonight but I don't imagine what killed the geese would be that small. Should we use pieces of the geese as bait or bury them? Burying them would obviously be a lot of work but I worry about leaving the bodies on the property...I don't want to encourage the predator to come back.
 
sorry about you losing your geese sounds like foxes probably a family I lost some ducks last year to a fox family. they kill and eat some and take the rest . foxes bury the uneaten food and come back to it later. I haven't seen the foxes this year but I always worry. I wish you luck.
 
Sounds like a dog or coyote. Please lock up your geese
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I would not let mine alone outside of a fence.
 
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I had three American Buff geese who were about 4 months old that were killed sometime this morning between 8:30am and 10:00am. They were full grown and free ranged on our property. My husband left this morning and he saw them and by the time I went outside, they had been attacked and killed. The male is missing completely, no evidence of him anywhere. The females' bodies were left. One had her insides eaten and the other just had her back torn up. Their heads were still in tact and not bitten or anything. 

My first assumption was a dog but I don't know for sure. I wish we had them in a fenced in area and game cameras up, but we didn't. We've seen fox on our road before but nothing else. We live North of Richmond, Virginia in the country so there are definitely lots of predators around, we just haven't seen hardly any. Does anyone have any ideas? My husband and I have been scouring the internet all day trying to figure out what happened. I'm so heartbroken...they were such beautiful geese...they follow me around like puppy dogs and would honk and run over when I called for my 'gooses.' I'm terrified to let the chickens free range now, even if we're home! 

We do have two small humane traps that we will set out tonight but I don't imagine what killed the geese would be that small. Should we use pieces of the geese as bait or bury them? Burying them would obviously be a lot of work but I worry about leaving the bodies on the property...I don't want to encourage the predator to come back. 
 
I had three American Buff geese who were about 4 months old that were killed sometime this morning between 8:30am and 10:00am. They were full grown and free ranged on our property. My husband left this morning and he saw them and by the time I went outside, they had been attacked and killed. The male is missing completely, no evidence of him anywhere. The females' bodies were left. One had her insides eaten and the other just had her back torn up. Their heads were still in tact and not bitten or anything.

My first assumption was a dog but I don't know for sure. I wish we had them in a fenced in area and game cameras up, but we didn't. We've seen fox on our road before but nothing else. We live North of Richmond, Virginia in the country so there are definitely lots of predators around, we just haven't seen hardly any. Does anyone have any ideas? My husband and I have been scouring the internet all day trying to figure out what happened. I'm so heartbroken...they were such beautiful geese...they follow me around like puppy dogs and would honk and run over when I called for my 'gooses.' I'm terrified to let the chickens free range now, even if we're home!

We do have two small humane traps that we will set out tonight but I don't imagine what killed the geese would be that small. Should we use pieces of the geese as bait or bury them? Burying them would obviously be a lot of work but I worry about leaving the bodies on the property...I don't want to encourage the predator to come back.
So very sorry for your losses..
 
I'm so very sorry for your loss. Last year we had 2 Buff and 2 Chinese geese that were 4 months old. My daughter was staying at our house while we were away and when she went out in the morning all 4 were dead. It was a horrific site for her to have to deal with. She took photographs and when we returned I sent them to a person at a near by educational nature center who after viewing them said he was pretty sure if was coyotes. I have those pics on my phone and to this day I still have not looked at them. This spring we got 6 new goslings and every night they are locked up because I never want to experience that again. Again I'm so very sorry!
 

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