# Mystery local animal killing pets. What could it be? - Pics -some graphic **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 1, 2017, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536 "2017-04-01T20:29:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/1 "2017-04-01T20:29:30Z")
Local (Eastern Shore of Maryland) woman posted these pics on facebook re some animal that is killing her pets. Any ideas? > [@](#): > > I will apologize for the graphic photos but I need help…over the last 2 days we have had a cat mutilated and the next night the girls pet goats were killed. We have had goats for many years and never had an issue. Something ate through the wood in their house in 2 different spots and bit the goats throats but did not eat them. I can only see the bite marks on their throats no other damage. I don’t believe this is a fox but would love help figuring it out. My Dad talked to DNR but no one has been out to look. This is very scary and I’m concerned since it’s in an area where people walk, hunt and my kids play. We want to bury them but wondered would someone want to examine them for a record…Coyote? Wild Dog? Rabid something? [photos](http://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q383/seamaster100/b_zps6vuu210v.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/2 "2017-04-01T21:00:24Z")
coyotes are statewide in Maryland so that’s one guess. Ask neighbors if they’ve heard them howling at night. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/3 "2017-04-01T21:02:19Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > coyotes are statewide in Maryland so that’s one guess. Ask neighbors if they’ve heard them howling at night. Behaviorally yes, but that hole is barely a few inches across. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/4 "2017-04-01T21:12:42Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Behaviorally yes, but that hole is barely a few inches across. Are you saying the animal entered through the hole and did this? That needs to be spelled out to local officials right now. Like RIGHT NOW. We’re talking about something like a rabid racoon and all animals should be treated as if infected. This is now a big deal for anyone handling the cascaras. I would use the words “possible rabid animal” when talking to animal control to get their immediate attention. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/5 "2017-04-01T21:19:01Z")
Chupacabra? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/6 "2017-04-01T21:23:17Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Behaviorally yes, but that hole is barely a few inches across. Coyotes are pretty small, no? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/7 "2017-04-01T21:34:18Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > Coyotes are pretty small, no? They are bigger than raccoons, and they are lanky. They are about the size of female labs on the left side of the bell curve. The males get up to 50lbs. So about what we think of as a “medium” dog. I didn’t see the size of the hole, because I didn’t want to click on the pix, but a coyote would need probably a standard dog door space unless it was starving and really determined, and if it just killed the animals, did not eat them, it either had been made vicious through training, or was rabid. Call animal control. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/8 "2017-04-01T21:43:19Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > Coyotes are pretty small, no? 30 to 60 lbs. [To kill as quickly as possible, coyotes typically attack by biting sheep in the throat just behind the jaw and under the ears.](http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/sheep/facts/coydog2.htm) They maintain a grip until the animal suffocates or dies of internal bleeding. We might be able to tell the size of the animal by the size of the claw marks and the height/size of the holes. A 30 lb coyote is going to be bigger than a racoon. But consider how aggressive a raccoon can be when it’s NOT rabid I’d be worried about a small animal that attacks a goat. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/9 "2017-04-01T21:46:23Z")
Weasel, pine marten, stoat, mink, something like that? Those animals are small, though, and it’s difficult to imagine one killing a goat. I’m most apt to think fox. Whatever it was, it was a determined little bugger. Raccoons are the worst predators of poultry here in the urban Willamette Valley. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/10 "2017-04-01T21:57:23Z")
According to [this site](http://articles.extension.org/pages/71204/predator-management-for-small-and-backyard-poultry-flocks) speaking about poultry, weasels and minks are most likely to be killing just for the fun of it. And per the [Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources](http://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/plants_wildlife/Long-Tailed-Weasel.aspx) Long-tailed weasels common to MD “are the largest weasel of the weasel family and often will attack prey nearly two times larger.” That said that hole looks plenty big enough for a coyote to squeeze through and per [this source](http://www.sheepscreek.com/rural/predator.html) the throat wounds are their modus operandi: > [@](#): > > Coyote kill by strangulation and/or by severing the jugular vein. They attack the throat just behind the jaw and ear, clamping down on the animal’s windpipe, and leaving puncture wounds below the lower jaw. Bleeding from a severed jugular vein may be subdermal. A small coyote can kill a large sheep or calf, and the process is silent; the victim cannot bleat or make noise with its throat shut. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/11 "2017-04-01T22:35:12Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > And per the [Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources](http://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/plants_wildlife/Long-Tailed-Weasel.aspx) Long-tailed weasels common to MD “are the largest weasel of the weasel family and often will attack prey nearly two times larger.” At their largest a long-tailed weasel is only 9 ounces, and 11 to 22 inches long. They are not killing goats. A much, much larger fishercat (36 inches, 8-13 pounds), however, might take on a cat but still probably not a goat. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/12 "2017-04-01T22:47:55Z")
Do you have badgers there? Those are claw markings of something which digs routinely. Why it tried digging at several different locations should limit the field of possible critters. Is the wood around the hole softer than the wood at the damaged but not compromised sites? ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/13 "2017-04-01T23:50:27Z")
I don’t think a raccoon or a cat made those claw marks. I think it was either a dog or a coyote, or just possibly, a lost, juvenile bear. But probably canine. Dogs and coyotes will kill cats, sheep and goats for fun. I wouldn’t have thought a dog would fight his way into the shelter, though. Foxes are known for this sort of behavior, however, although usually with chickens. It would have to be a pretty single minded animal. Any of those three are capable of making those wounds. I’d guess it’s a large fox or smallish coyote, but it might be a dog. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2017, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/14 "2017-04-02T01:33:20Z")
I can’t really tell how big the hole is by the photos, but to me it doesn’t look like raccoon damage. (And do raccoons even prey on goats? Goats, even small ones, are significantly bigger than coons.) They have small, sharp claws and those scratches look more like dog teeth to me. I’m guessing coyote. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2017, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/15 "2017-04-02T02:39:55Z")
Something canine. One of the picture looks like it punched through the wood with a snout. MD is the wrong state for a wolverine, so that’s out. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/16 "2017-04-03T02:24:33Z")
Chupacabra? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-local-animal-killing-pets-what-could-it-be-pics-some-graphic/783536/17 "2017-04-03T16:20:32Z")
This is the action of a dog or dogs. Not necessarily rabid. Just one or more that have gotten the taste of fresh blood and want more.