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Wild?? critter question

dreher
I breed Dutch rabbits. Over the last couple of weeks one of my oldest does started going downhill health wise. I tried all my normal tricks I've used over the years to try and get this doe back to health but nothing worked. Last night she was looking like she wouldn't make morning so I decided to speed up the process of dying. It was right at dark and I was tired and decided I would dig a hole in the garden for her this morning rather than last night.


This morning I went out to bury this doe and she was gone! I looked around and found her 15 to 20 feet from where she was lying last night sort of hidden around the base of a small bush. The doe had been chewed on but just a little bit, all of the chewing was on the head, damage to the lips and mouth area and a little bit of chewing around one eye. Again very little was eaten, the meaty part of this doe was left alone.


So what critter is big enough to drag a 4 pound rabbit 20 feet but not big enough to do some serious eating once dragging the rabbit 20 feet?? No tracks of any kind, this all took place on just mowed grass. The obvious candidates, a raccoon or a possum don't seem logical because I think they would eat a lot not just a few bites. So what are your thoughts???
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Comments

24 comments

Date Votes
  • Grasshopper
    Coon, weasel would be my guess. Although the weasel should have killed her?
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  • gearheaddad
    Maybe a young Opossum or Skunk? I think a Mink or Weasel would do more damage to the head and neck for blood.
    Time for a trail camera!
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  • Mercury
    I don't know the critter, but I'm sorry to hear you lost a rabbit. How old was she?

    I also used to raise Dutch rabbits, 35 years ago. They went downhill after 3-4 years, it seems to me now. My New Zealand whites would be healthier much longer, I remember.

    Merc
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  • jimdeere
    Coon or possum. We lost a chicken a week ago. Found feathers but no carcass. Couldn?t figure out how he got her out of the chain link pen.
    Set a live trap, next morning trap was thrown but no varmit.
    Just coon hair on the wire.
    Next night had trail cam pics of fat possum but she didn?t go in the trap.
    Third night caught a young possum but I don?t think he was the culprit.im thinking only a coon would grab the hen and get back over the fence.
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  • gearheaddad
    quote:Originally posted by Mercury
    I don't know the critter, but I'm sorry to hear you lost a rabbit. How old was she?

    I also used to raise Dutch rabbits, 35 years ago. They went downhill after 3-4 years, it seems to me now. My New Zealand whites would be healthier much longer, I remember.

    Merc


    Interesting that their is such a thing as a "New Zealand White Rabbit"
    Only one Land Mammal is indigenous to New Zealand! And it aint no Rabbit! It's some odd Bat!![;)][:D]
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  • jimdeere
    Gear head, Australian Shepard?s didn?t originate in Australia, either.
    Dreher, don?t rule out a feral house cat. We don?t see any around here, but you might have them.
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  • SCOUT5
    Any number of critters could have done that. Weasel, mink, cat would be likely suspects. Probably wasn't a fox as they would most likely have carried it off. Could have also been a bird a crow, magpie, raptor.
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  • SG
    Feral cat too small to actually devour it? My cat will drag around adult cotton tails that are as big or bigger than he is and slowly kill them by suffocation before he eats them. Cats are extremely powerful and efficient killers.
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  • Brookwood
    Several years ago, I found a headless wild cotton tail rabbit out in my yard. I went a few days wondering what the heck would just take the head.

    Ran into my next door neighbor that next weekend and he greeted me with the story that answered my question. Told me that he saw a Great Horned Owl swoop down and snag that rabbits head, while sitting out on his porch right at dusk!
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  • minitruck83
    Rat
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  • wiplash
    This is pretty Morbid but My Brothers and I found a body out in the desert when I was around 15 yrs. old. The Birds had picked a lot of his facial soft tissue off.

    So, maybe Crows or Ravens?
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  • truthful
    Several years ago a racoon somehow made a hole through chicken wire to get to my daughter's rabbits. Not around, under, or over the chicken wire..... through it.
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  • jwb267
    Fishers eat snowshoe hares, rabbits, rodents and birds, and are one of the few specialized predators of porcupines. Fishers are effective hunters, but are also known to eat insects, nuts, and berries when prey is not available.
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  • He Dog
    Where you live would make a difference in what is around your area to do that, but in most areas there are several likely candidates.
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  • bpost
    If I had to guess it would be a possum.
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  • Okie743
    Put up a game camera?
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  • carbine100
    Because very little was eaten, I'm thinking non-feral cat. Any neighbors got cats? I would think feral cats would eat more since they kill for subsistence, where as a pet would probably be fed regular and would just chew on a little.
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  • TrinityScrimshaw
    I second the Rat.

    Anywhere you have chicken cages, rabbit cages, or any other critter area that accumulates their feces you will have Rat's.

    Trinity +++
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  • Okie743
    quote:Originally posted by TrinityScrimshaw
    I second the Rat.

    Anywhere you have chicken cages, rabbit cages, or any other critter area that accumulates their feces you will have Rat's.

    Trinity +++


    3rd; A Big Norway rat.
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  • spasmcreek
    maybe something is in the area you raise rabbits that causes a bad health situation...way back when i raised and fattened hogs there was something that one got in the soil or buildings you had to close up shop and keep em off there for years..
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  • Okie743
    quote:Originally posted by spasmcreek
    maybe something is in the area you raise rabbits that causes a bad health situation...way back when i raised and fattened hogs there was something that one got in the soil or buildings you had to close up shop and keep em off there for years..


    Similar to parvo virus.
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  • ROY222
    Let her pass in peace in her cage.
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  • JamesRK
    quote:Originally posted by TrinityScrimshaw
    I second the Rat.

    Anywhere you have chicken cages, rabbit cages, or any other critter area that accumulates their feces you will have Rat's.

    Trinity +++

    Or a neighbor who cleaned out his chicken houses and barns.
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  • dreher
    I have read that squirrels will eat baby birds so squirrels can be carnivores. Squirrels run around on top of my bunny cages all the time knocking things off. I'm about ready to think what I had was just a squirrel.


    The doe was old but a real good producer, excellent show bunnies. I knew she was to old to breed but I tried anyway because I wanted another daughter of hers for breeding. I probably shouldn't have but she weaned off 5 bunnies 3 of which are very nicely marked so I probably have another of her daughters for breeding.
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