»

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The fox got all of our ducks

I really am having a tough time figuring this out. It behaves like a fox. No carcass(es) left behind, just a small pile of feathers, then about 20 feet away, a larger scattering of feathers, and no bird. The other night, he(they?) got the last 3 ducks, PLUS a chicken, and this morning, the last 2 chickens (roosters) that were in that pen got killed. DH thinks that happened when he went into the house for a cup of coffee. I don't know, we had a fox a few years back that would take one bird at a time, NEVER all of these at once....

And we have SIX dogs!!! (Granted, one is 14, and one is 16, and at least two others are usually tied up, but still....) I am appalled by the carnage. And DH was out last night from about 7pm to 10:30pm, then again at 4:30am to 8am, with only one 15 minute break.....whatever it is, it's sly, and I'd sure like the honor of helping it into the next world...

I'm not even 100% sure it's a fox, although DH saw it (or one of them), he said it was red like a fox, but big, as big as a large dog....so maybe coyote? But I always thought those traveled in packs and he only saw one....and I would think that there would be no way for several canines to enter the yard with as close a watch as has been kept and leave not only unnoticed, but with our birds, too....right???? I don't really know, so if someone has ideas, please share!!!

I'm really not usually a violent person. I always feel bad about death, like when our dog Megan decided to play with a skunk. The skunk did what skunks do, and Megan got really mad and decided she was going to make sure that skunk never did that again. The reason we know this, is because that night, about 5 years ago, Megan was in the field across the road, barking, and refused to come home. So DH went to get her (this was before DH got sick). He saw Megan repeatedly attacking the skunk and repeatedly getting sprayed, until the skunk spray was just dripping off of her face....and the skunk.....didn't make it, of course. And I felt bad, because the skunk was probably just scared and doing what God designed it to do....Megan, too, of course, but Meg lived to see another day....

Anyhow, I hate the cruelty of nature and animals. But this fox, or whatever it is, has inflicted so much cruelty on my animals, I am tending towards wanting revenge. Really bad. I'm angry. As much as I hate taking care of the ducks in the winter, I miss them. We've never been duckless before, ever since we moved to our land.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's awful, hopefully it won't start attacking the dogs next now that the ducks and chickens aren't around.
Hope that sly miserable creature will go away now that the easy pickings are all gone.
Mandy

Miz Kizzle said...

Could it be a feral dog? Coyotes usually travel in packs, but not always. We see them sometimes ar my family's summer place in Maine.
I sure hope it's not one of those freaky mystery animals that you read about in FATE magazine.

DogAteMyFinances said...

My in-laws have a motion detector sprinkler system for the local dogs that wander the yards. It scares the jeebes out of them, and it was cheap (and non-violent).

Pann said...

OMG... you poor thing. I am so sorry.