Some poor thing met a sticky end in our garden in the last 24 hours. It would be nice to know what & perhaps an idea of who-done-it? From the amount of fur I'd say smaller than a pine marten & bigger than a mouse, possibly a baby hare as they are in our area.
There was no tail found, no head or ears & 2 small bone pieces. One looks like a ball from ball & socket joint.
The other was circular & flexible bone (ribcage?).
The fur was just over 2 cm long & very fluffy. It was all white at the base then changed to beige or darkbrown higher up.
I thought this beige clump might be a bunny tail.
Help!
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Hi Hazel,
This is a tricky one, the fur to me looks like a rabbit/hare, picture 3 shows this best.
Maybe a Fox has had it?
Thanks Ben, I was afraid someone would say that. We'll have to check our chicken fences (they get locked in at night). I wasn't sure whether a fox would have ate it on the spot. Also, we've never seen a hare in the garden but perhaps the fox chased it into the garden from the surrounding fields.
Hi there, brand new here. Searching for answers for my own sweet pets disappearance and happened upon this site/page. Just wanted to offer that I am not expert, but would be inclined due to first observance as well as description above from the hair coloring and texture offered..I am inclined, for whatever it's worth.. to agree with the comment from Ben A.
Here's a possibility: buzzard on a kill - looks about right though who can be sure? The fur in the third picture looks more like hare than rabbit to me but if you're in France you might have other mammals we wouldn't expect in the UK like coypu. Here's a picture of some hare fur https://www.troutline.ro/troutline-fly-tying-hare-pelt and wouldn't a rabbit tail be white?
The fox kills I've seen (not many and all in my garden) have all been messier than your pictures with bits left behind uneaten which is why I started looking for pictures of bird-mammal kills (I've never seen a buzzard kill myself).
Hi hazel.. I'd put a lot of money on that being an ex rabbit.
I don't believe it's a fox though. Foxes don't pluck fur out like that, they just eat it all. Bird of prey I think, strolling fur to reach meat.