Foxen again

[altivo]

Just got home. Because Gary and Rob, who perform as Bear Creek, were going to be appearing at The Corner Room this evening, Rob came out from Chicago on the train and Gary picked him up. I met them for dinner right after work in Woodstock and then went with them to the performance, which lasted until 11 pm. In the morning they are scheduled to play the Woodstock Farmers' Market, so Rob is staying the night.

While cleaning up and putting horses to bed earlier, Gary found a grisly artifact lying in the paddock. It is a hind leg of a mammal, gnawed to the bone except for the foot. I think it was either a large rabbit or a cat. Not our missing cat from a couple of weeks ago, because the color is wrong, but cat is a definite possibility. So perhaps the fox does indeed eat cats. At least the horses and sheep are too large for her.

Clear, starry sky tonight. It didn't look good at sunset, but has cleared up. That's good because the library was sponsoring a star observing party, with three semi-professional astronomers and telescopes tonight. I'd have been there but for the performance and the fact that Gary's birthday is tomorrow.

Comments

[corelog.livejournal.com]

Hind leg gnawed to the bone except for the foot? Reminds me of my last budgie. *grunts* Leave the bird cage on my bed, go to church Sunday morning, come back and find that last artifact laying in the doorway and nothing else.

I swear to this very day that I closed the door. I don't know how Mom's dog got in there, but she did. And even though I've desired a pet since then like crazy, I have never had one. I don't know, but I always had the feeling that my parents didn't trust me around animals after that. I mean, if I couldn't even take care of a couple of budgies...

Meh, I'm not going to go on. There's nothing but bad feelings that way.

[corelog.livejournal.com]

Oh, and happy birthday to Gary. :)

[hrrunka]

Hmmm... The claw shape (if there are any claws left on it) might help identify the victim's species. I guess paws (and hooves) do tend to get left behind by predators. Maybe they tend to catch while the prey's being dragged off, or maybe there's just nothing worth eating on them. The leopard that killed some of our pets (in Kenya) left the occasional paw behind.

I hope the star party at the library went well.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I believe you closed the door. Quite possibly someone else opened it for an unrelated reason and failed to close it properly again.

It's possible that this particular remnant was dropped by a crow, of which we have many large ones, or carried here by a stray dog or even a coyote. However, Gary is now convinced that it's proof that a smallish female fox will kill and eat housecats. Having seen her next to our large tabby, I'm not at all convinced. She obviously weighs less and has less muscle mass, though she might have an edge on him in speed. He got away from her handily enough, though, when she chased him last week. The texture of the fur on the paw makes me think it was a rabbit, actually. The brownish gray color with no stripes or streaks also suggests our typical cottontail. Short of DNA testing or an expert on bone structures, we won't know. (And I'm not keeping the grisly thing around long enough to find out.)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll pass it on. By the way, I finally found a small enough box, and will send you that camera today.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Canines actually seem to love hooves as chew toys and playthings. In fact, after a visit from the farrier they are quick to descend and scoop up all the larger trimmings.

The claws are present, and appear to be non-retractile, which makes me lean toward the conclusion that it was a rabbit. (Or rather, a cottontail, since our local lapines are Sylvilagus.)

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

I'd have thought a fox would be more than a match for a domesticated cat.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh, no doubt a fox can kill a cat. The question is, would it be worth the damage the fox would receive in the process? And having done it once, would the fox bother again? I think the answer in both cases is probably no. They are smart little guys. The ones we have here are not a whole lot larger than a good sized cat, and by all accounts, their favorite food is chicken. Their second favorite food is chicken too. Lacking that, they tend to look at other birds first. I've seen evidence that they went after crows and mourning doves here. I'm pretty sure they also hunt small rodents, the same prey the cats take: mice, rats, voles, rabbits, woodchucks, and so forth.