Fox Attack Versus Dog Attack

[Purdie]

http://books.google....=0acwxIxOdS

[persephone]

Good description, purdie :)

[Rozzie]

It'd be a big freakin python then.

[sheena]

Having grown up on a sheep station, foxes used to take very young lambs, even while they were still being born, they would bite the hind leg off the sheep & take the lamb, but I doubt very much if a fox could take a goat. Usually when they kill, there is mayhem with all chooks dead & decapitated. They get turkeys too.....hmmmmmm....having said that, if they will kill a turkey, then maybe they could go for a small goat but it seems strange, that whatever did it, left the chooks alone. If it were a dingo, then they usually kill then take the kidneys. My guess is that it were a dog, & it was scared off after killing the goat. does your neighbour have a rooster with the chooks, as they can be very savage to an invading dog. Whatever it was...it will be back.

[Daxilly]

Thank you everybody for all the ideas!

While we will never know what actually happened, and after doing some research, I think we can put it down to a fox.

Injury around the neck resulting in possible crushed windpipe, surplus killing, probably lone animal attack and hole the size of a fox in fence.

The size of the goat had me confused as I thought its size would be too big to attract a fox. It was mentioned that they could take kids and while being a miniature goat she was still not small.

However, I found a reference to disrupted food source. Six to eight weeks ago I started finding dead rabbits on our property. Over the space of about 5 days there were 12, all probably the victim of calacsi (sp) virus. Major food source was probably significantly reduced which made it look to other, non common sources.

Animal behaviour is very interesting and I have learnt alot about foxes.