- Jan 6, 2015
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I grew up in G'ville, more of a city boy than a country person, by far. As such, I'll admit ignorance to a lot of wildlife interactions. As such, I was presented recently with an interesting set of entrails in my front yard recently and I'm hoping some of you may have insight into wtf I found and how it happened.
For those unaware, I currently live in a well populated suburb in PA. There are still wild creeks and woods scattered within a mile radius, but their minimal and thoroughly surrounded by housing developments. I've seen a fox on our street one morning at about 5am, but that was several years ago. We do have several rabbits in our neighborhood, but no other animals of note. No neighborhood dogs running around, a few indoor/outdoor cats, but haven't seen any in months. I have no idea of the bird population. The neighbors don't strike me as vegans, but I doubt their guilty of this...but, who knows.
I came home the other day and the wife said there was something hideous in the front yard for me. Of course, my daughter was having a half dozen 12-13y old girls sleep over that day and their all playing out front with the wife shooing them away from it. I get there, and I can clearly see the remains of an animal. In all, there is a pile of intestines, a colon, a pile of poop (too large to have come from a rabbit, and not looking like poop but more of a gelled puddle), and one lone forearm with fur still on it (hence recognizing this used to be a rabbit). What struck me most was the cleanliness - there was no blood anywhere, or vomit as if ejected from an early meal; and there were no other traces of the event such as fur, bones, other body parts, or any sign of a struggle. Just those entrails, incredibly clean and understandably left behind. Understand, I also don't know how long these have been left in the yard, this could have been a day before at most, allowing for this full day of sunlight or bugs to clean things up a bit, but it was eerily clean and there were no signs of bugs or secondary vulture effects.
Can anyone help me understand how ONLY those parts would have been left, with no trace of anything else? What would have done this to the rabbit?
For those unaware, I currently live in a well populated suburb in PA. There are still wild creeks and woods scattered within a mile radius, but their minimal and thoroughly surrounded by housing developments. I've seen a fox on our street one morning at about 5am, but that was several years ago. We do have several rabbits in our neighborhood, but no other animals of note. No neighborhood dogs running around, a few indoor/outdoor cats, but haven't seen any in months. I have no idea of the bird population. The neighbors don't strike me as vegans, but I doubt their guilty of this...but, who knows.
I came home the other day and the wife said there was something hideous in the front yard for me. Of course, my daughter was having a half dozen 12-13y old girls sleep over that day and their all playing out front with the wife shooing them away from it. I get there, and I can clearly see the remains of an animal. In all, there is a pile of intestines, a colon, a pile of poop (too large to have come from a rabbit, and not looking like poop but more of a gelled puddle), and one lone forearm with fur still on it (hence recognizing this used to be a rabbit). What struck me most was the cleanliness - there was no blood anywhere, or vomit as if ejected from an early meal; and there were no other traces of the event such as fur, bones, other body parts, or any sign of a struggle. Just those entrails, incredibly clean and understandably left behind. Understand, I also don't know how long these have been left in the yard, this could have been a day before at most, allowing for this full day of sunlight or bugs to clean things up a bit, but it was eerily clean and there were no signs of bugs or secondary vulture effects.
Can anyone help me understand how ONLY those parts would have been left, with no trace of anything else? What would have done this to the rabbit?