We've known for a couple of months that there was a rat in the wood store, but no sign of multiple rats, breeding or bothering the hens in any way so I haven't been too worried. However this morning I went out and found a dead rat in the middle of the lawn. The only sign of anything wrong with it (apart from being an ex-rat) was a small cut on it's face, so I'm wondering how it died. We haven't put out any traps or poison, and we're quite a distance from any neighbouring buildings so not likely to be an interloper, so what might've killed it?
Our dogs gave it a little sniff this morning then wandered away - very unusual for them - but I did wonder if one of them might've caught it during the night and broken it's neck (it was too stiff to check that theory). It wasn't a bird of prey otherwise I would expect it to be at least partially eaten, if not carried away. My only other working theory is that it was an interloper and got caught by the resident rat - or vice versa - but with only a small cut to the face it seems unlikely to have been in a fight.
My only concern is that it is from a neighbour's land and was poisoned. That's a concern for my dogs, although they did show little interest in it.
Topic: Dead rat on the lawn - how might it have died? (Read 17963 times)
