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Author Topic: MURDER MYSTERY  (Read 5199 times)

shep53

  • Joined Jan 2011
  • Dumfries & Galloway
MURDER MYSTERY
« on: September 06, 2015, 01:05:47 pm »
The  facts,   15th aug weaning the last field of x lambs  2 missing , went to search  and found   a bit of wool plus the spine and ribs   of the second lamb no sign .     All x lambs weaned and running in 6 fields  next to one another and  over the road from the field above .    24th aug   found   wool and bone fragments in field 3 .    30th aug  dead lamb  shoulders eaten  neck severed at the shoulders and head and neck missing   in field 1         3rd sept dead lamb   only spine and ribs / skin again head and neck severed missing field 1     ( the wool on the neck area was bloody but the ground was clean )          4th sept     lamb alive with blood on its neck and a couple of light puncture wounds.  field 1           These are  tex x lambs born april  and   thriving  .          Very strange that all the lambs including stomach and contents / intestines etc all gone plus the head and neck gone .            Thoughts ???

waterbuffalofarmer

  • Joined Apr 2014
  • Mid Wales
  • Owner of 61 Mediterranean water buffaloes
Re: MURDER MYSTERY
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2015, 01:21:55 pm »
Probably a group of foxes or badgers. Missing head suggests badger. Have you had any stray dogs hanging around?
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Porterlauren

  • Joined Apr 2014
Re: MURDER MYSTERY
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2015, 04:00:04 pm »
Very unusual that a fox or badger would catch and kill weaned lambs. Sounds like it could be a dog, but again it would be a bit unusual that the dog would eat it like that.

Big cat?

crofterswife

  • Joined Apr 2015
Re: MURDER MYSTERY
« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2015, 04:08:11 pm »
A litter of this years fox cubs is the most likely culprits.

Kimbo

  • Joined Feb 2015
  • Anglezarke, Lancashire
Re: MURDER MYSTERY
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2015, 05:09:27 pm »
weird.
Strangest part is how clean the ground is and how all the innards have gone. Maybe the crows took those away but it is indeed a mysterious occurrence.
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Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: MURDER MYSTERY
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2015, 06:49:36 pm »
Badgers generally go into a downer cow through the udder - underbelly is a soft way into the body cavity.

Deere

  • Joined Jun 2012
  • Peak District
Re: MURDER MYSTERY
« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2015, 06:59:01 pm »
With the innards being missing my money is certainly on badgers,  whether they initially killed the lambs, stole them off a fox or cleared up once a fox had finished is the mystery!
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shep53

  • Joined Jan 2011
  • Dumfries & Galloway
Re: MURDER MYSTERY
« Reply #7 on: September 06, 2015, 08:25:02 pm »
 After talking to gamekeepers and farmers the favourite was a  single dog ,  no badgers  around nearest 8mls away .     But the reality ( well done crofters wife ) was a pair of dog foxes born this year both now DEAD  shot  half an hour ago .   :thumbsup:   No one has seen anything like this before so what's the story  Crofters Wife

crofterswife

  • Joined Apr 2015
Re: MURDER MYSTERY
« Reply #8 on: September 06, 2015, 09:01:47 pm »
The crofter was the "vermin modulator"  (we need to be pc about it) here for a few years and had seen this before.

Coximus

  • Joined Aug 2014
Re: MURDER MYSTERY
« Reply #9 on: September 06, 2015, 10:40:51 pm »
Sounds like either dogs or foxes - that said Its unusual for foxes to take mature lambs IMO / IME they will if desperate but ive never had a fox take this late in the season, they usually take them much smaller.
That said a big dog fox will do that, but that habit doesn’t last long as they get shot and others don’t learn.

Porterlauren

  • Joined Apr 2014
Re: MURDER MYSTERY
« Reply #10 on: September 06, 2015, 10:45:56 pm »
Very very unlikely to be a pair of foxes born this year taking down weaned lambs. Very likely that a litter of cubs could strip the carcasses though, same with ravens. We've had ewes stripped bare by ravens in hours. But Usually its an ill ewe etc. Live 30 + kilo lambs are a handful for most things. . . . . . foxes are bloody small animals in reality!

Me

  • Joined Feb 2014
  • Wild West
Re: MURDER MYSTERY
« Reply #11 on: September 06, 2015, 11:02:39 pm »
7kg a fox?

Porterlauren

  • Joined Apr 2014
Re: MURDER MYSTERY
« Reply #12 on: September 06, 2015, 11:15:26 pm »
Yer average dog fox weight is quoted around 7k with vixens around 5.5 k. Seen some very large dog foxes, but relatively speaking, they are still not a 'big' animal. Certainly a healthy fat lamb should easily be able to run from / over one.

Coximus

  • Joined Aug 2014
Re: MURDER MYSTERY
« Reply #13 on: September 06, 2015, 11:18:16 pm »
Thinking on it - sounds like a stray dog took the lamb for "fun" and the carcase was stripped down - thinking back to my losses, this is usually the cause - though its usually badgers stripping the carcase.

Buttermilk

  • Joined Jul 2014
Re: MURDER MYSTERY
« Reply #14 on: September 07, 2015, 07:37:16 am »
Having seen the size of some of our local foxes they weigh a fair bit more than 7kg even allowing for big fur coats.

 

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