I have an outdoor cat that would do this in a heartbeat. He’s a great hunter. I’ve found whole and pieces of animals left at my backdoor and in my yard. Baby bunnies, birds, moles, squirrels, you name it, that cat could probably get to it, chase it down and kill it. I’ve seen feathers and fur all over the place, or only one little baby bunny head–it depends on how easy it was to catch.
It’s gross, but I tell him how good of a hunter he is for bringing Mommy his prize. Urgh.
They were in a wood and wire hutch on the back verandah.
The killing/positioning would point to a cat (because my own kitty has left baby bunnies all lined up in a row with their little throats torn out), but the fact that the top of the cage was ripped off gives me pause. Cats just don’t seem that strong to me–at least my cats aren’t. I guess a really desperate feral cat could tear off chicken wire, but if it’s stronger stuff than that, I’d say it’s a fox.
Could it have been a person?
I’m going with chupacabra.
Also, the corpses are unblemished. Cats don’t have a means of killing things without leaving visible wounds on the bodies.
Cats can strangle by biting on the throat and not leave much of a mark, Ive come home to a circle of blackbirds all dead but largely unmarked.
The broken wire is why I would vote fox or possibly even dog. Any possibility of human? Not a nice thought, but had to mention it.
Otara
It did occur to me that it might be a human. But I thought a person would be more likely to just open the hutch rather than break through the wire. It wasn’t locked or anything. Also not sure why or how someone would kill two guinea pigs and make off with a third. I hope it wasn’t a human, because that would be really disturbing.
It sounds like it was most likely to have been a fox. Next question is how to protect future guinea pigs from suffering the same fate. The wire on the hutch was stapled to the wood every 4 inches, so something more secure than that.
ETA: lol at the dropbear
Are there no dogs in the area ? I had a shepherd in my youth who killed rabbits by ripping into their cages until he was caught.
Actually, I was thinking that as well. Although dogs usually leave more of a mess, and eat more of the animals.
I disagree. I’ve had cats that do the playful, clawless, batting-around thing to rodents until their little hearts just stop.
ETA: Not that I think it was a cat in this case, just that I don’t think a bloodless corpse rules out cats in general.
No feral dogs, that I’m aware of. Unleashed dogs usually get picked up pretty quickly by the ranger. I guess someone’s dog could have got out as a once-off.
Are we sure it’s not the…“missing” guinea pig? ::shock horror::