What killed my goose? *Graphic*

So we have lost two birds at my parents' farm, the last couple of nights. First it was the goose, pictured below, and then a duck last night. (I don't have photos of the duck, because we used her as bait for the live trap.)

He suffered at least two bite wounds on his throat, and died the following day from blood loss.

I have narrowed it down to a couple of possible predators, but wanted to see what you guys think.

Here are the pictures:





These are the larger holes. It looks to me like there is tearing around the holes, like something latched on and he shook his head back and forth trying to free himself. (I plucked feathers around the area so we could see it better.)



The tooth holes were about 1-1.25 inches apart.



The duck was found on the creek bank, and we had to look really hard to find the puncture marks, but they were in the same location as the goose, and the same distance apart. There were no other injuries, and no feathers anywhere (no sign of a struggle, in other words).

The ducks have been sleeping on the water (we finally managed to get them penned up tonight), so whatever it was grabbed it in the water, which leads me to a mink.

But would a mink take on a goose?! I also thought maybe a feral cat or even a fox, but the duck obviously wasn't drug very far from the water. Of course, it's possible that my parents' dogs interrupted the predator both times.

We set the live trap this evening, baited with the dead duck, right where it was found. We'll see if we get anything!

What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance!

Weasel

Domestic Dog...usually they will shake the pray but not always. I have seen them run in bite and drop.

Dood, I was thinking weasel too, but the only weasel species we have are the Least Weasel (1.25-2 ounces) and the Long-tailed Weasel (2.5 - 9.5 ounces). That's why I was thinking mink, since they can get up to 3 pounds and are aquatic.

that's some big puncher holes for a weasel or mink maybe a cat?

I'm gonna go with celice - cat.

Weasel/mink tend to kill several / as many as possible birds in one night. It's kinda unusual for them to just kill 1-2, much less only to kill 1-2 and then go after a goose (if it's going after a goose I'd imagine it was in a frenzy)

Hm, but the cat should take the bird away, and maybe try to eat some. Was the duck large?

If it were a dog I'd expect to see it to have chewed on anything else. Had a pup who straight up tried to eat a bird alive, end to head. So it'd be weird for it to just bite it and then leave the rest of it alone, and leave the rest of the flock alone.

Does sound like a mink, but they usually go on frenzy killings, and even if they don't, they should eat some of the head. Especially if they only kill 1. <br /><br /> __________ Fri Jan 09, 2015 11:22 pm __________ <br /><br /> Actually, sounds like a possum.

I thought maybe a feral cat, too. But here's the thing: the duck was taken IN THE WATER (that's where they were sleeping), with zero signs of a struggle.

So whatever it was made a very experienced and calculated bite to the throat, killing it instantly (not to mention swimming into the water).

This was a BIG duck (Silver Appleyard), about 7-8 pounds. It obviously didn't get very far with it.

Mink and weasel actually don't always get into a frenzy. They will kill extra to cache whenever food is scarce, sometimes (or if the opportunity presents itself, e.g. getting into the chicken coop). The goose and duck were killed on different nights.

Also, the holes on the duck's throat were MUCH smaller than those in the one side of the goose's neck. So I'm still thinking mink on that one, for sure.

It's kind of strange. We go years without having a predator problem then, BAM - two birds, two nights in a row. So it has to be the same predator, I would think. The geese have always slept out in the open, but the ducks have only been unprotected for a couple of weeks (mom and dad were having a hard time getting them to go up at night).

We'll have to see if the live trap got anything this morning.

looks like a opossum kill to me, dogs and coons "usually" make a bigger mess.

I don't have opossum here so I can tell you on that one what the bit mark would look like.

I doubt it was a fox, they do get into a killing spree but always take their pray off somewhere. I had a fox kill 3 turkeys and if it wasn't for the fence it would have dragged them away, or a domestic cat: if the ducks and goose was killed in the water I doubt is was a house cat. though they are known for killing things and leaving them. a weasel would go after them in the water but they are so small it would be a very difficult for them and those teeth marks seem too big for a mink or weasel.

I agree with Michaels4gardens dogs and coons leave a big mess.

Bobcats may go in the water, opossums will, skunks will, and coyotes will.

If you are going to put up a live trap use wet cat food, that would attract just about anything.

I don't know if you have fishers, Phacelia--some people call them fisher-cats but they are a larger member of the weasel family. We have quite a few of them around this area and they are notorious for killing and eating barn cats.

According to the attached link, there seems to be a small area of Tennessee that has them. Just one more suspect to add to your list.

http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/kids/a ... fisher.asp

Yeah, the dead duck didn't tempt anybody. We were planning on baiting it tonight with cat food or sardines. Of course, there are a lot of free roaming cats in our area, so we are likely to just catch one of those.

MaggieJ, the Fisher is an intriguing possibility. The reintroduction project was in a WMA a few counties east of us, and as far as I know, there haven't been any sightings in our area. I'll have to ask our Wildlife Officers next time I see them.

Looking at the "Dead Birds" section of this, it looks like dogs, mink, weasel, ferret, fisher, marten would seem to fit.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/18670 ... tification

Hopefully you get something in the trap.

Just curious - why has racoon been ruled out?

Wheels":bwwhlbyt said:

Just curious - why has racoon been ruled out?

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raccoon leave a really big mess and often eat most of the carcass.

Celice":1u0xcvl2 said:

Wheels":1u0xcvl2 said:

Just curious - why has racoon been ruled out?

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raccoon leave a really big mess and often eat most of the carcass.

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Googled raccoons and it seems they're like possums - bite to the neck/head, and hardly eat anything. If they do, it's just the crop/breast area.

They usually make a huge mess when they can just grab parts of a bird, where they'll tear them apart.
Never had a raccoon attack myself though, so I wouldn't know by experience.

We've had opossum attacks on some of our chickens before, and they chew up the heads pretty good.

I'd be surprised if a raccoon went to all that trouble to attack a duck and a goose, considering my parents leave out a bowl of cat food 24/7.

Trap came up empty again this morning, so I think our killer has moved on.

Thanks for your input, everybody! <br /><br /> __________ Sun Jan 11, 2015 4:23 pm __________ <br /><br /> *UPDATE* We were out this afternoon and actually saw a mink loping along the creek bank. We think we know where his den is, so we will set the trap closer to that spot this evening.

I'm going coon. It would not have had a chance to make a mess if the killing happened in the water where there were other geese. The opossums I've had weren't good swimmers and avoided it at all cost. Racoons though like it and I've even had problems keeping the little ones out of my pool. :x

do you have any otters in your area?

I am so sorry for the losses, Phacelia

But MaggieJ thanks for that link - I did NOT know that TN had reintroduced Fishers. OH DEAR. Had those up in the North and by goodness... sigh. Those are some efficient "little" predators.

michaels4gardens":jjkxxd5a said:

do you have any otters in your area?

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We do have them here, but our little creek is much too small for them.

wamplercathy":jjkxxd5a said:

I'm going coon. It would not have had a chance to make a mess if the killing happened in the water where there were other geese. The opossums I've had weren't good swimmers and avoided it at all cost. Racoons though like it and I've even had problems keeping the little ones out of my pool. :x

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I've not ruled out raccoon completely, but like I said, my parents leave out cat food 24/7, so I'd be surprised it would go to the trouble of tackling live birds with such an easy food source available. I also think their bite radius is larger than what I measured on the dead birds.

The duck was taken in the water, and the goose was attacked in the yard. These attacks happened on different nights.

DumansArk":jjkxxd5a said:

I am so sorry for the losses, Phacelia

But MaggieJ thanks for that link - I did NOT know that TN had reintroduced Fishers. OH DEAR. Had those up in the North and by goodness... sigh. Those are some efficient "little" predators.

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I wouldn't think we would have them in such a rural area, since it really isn't the right habitat (they prefer undisturbed, mature forest).

I do know that they are one of the few predators that can take on a porcupine. (Not that we have those in TN.)