RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted February 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 15, 2012 My dog (cocker spaniel as seen in avatar photo) seemed very interested in a large plant pot in the garden this morning. When we returned from a walk he was determined to investigate it again and managed to knock the pot over. Under the surface of the compost was a dead pigeon. I assume some creature had buried it as a snack for later. What would be most likely to do this. It was quite neatly done, if Robbie (the spaniel) hadn't been keen to investigate I wouldn't have known. There are plenty of foxes round here but they don't frequent our garden as often as they used to (pre-dog!). There are plenty of cats as well some of whom are quite effective bird slaughterers but do they bury things? Until now the only burying used to be squirrels burying nuts on the lawn. Robbie urinating on their nuts seemed to discourage them. Are there any other likely suspects for the pigeon burial? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Pigeon funeral - natural causes and other pigeons buried it. Can't think of any carnivorous animal that stores food for later in random places, animals know meat doesn't last so they eat straight away. Cats drag bodies around and play with them as most don't actually know what to do once they've satisfied their blood lust and killed something. There would also have been compost all over the place if an animal had buried something. You've not had a neighbour dispute of any sort have you, though what would come from burying a dead pigeon in a plant pot I dont know. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Dastardly & Muttley? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted February 15, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 15, 2012 I'm not aware of any neighbours dabbling in the occult or even any disputes that would cause them to bury a pigeon in a pot in my garden! Robbie does do a good Muttley impression but doesn't bear any grudges against pigeons! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Interesting that your dog Robbie had been urinating on squirrals nuts. Had you found the dead pigeon buried in a pile of steaming dog sh*t, it could have been a stool pigeon. The plot deepens.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Was it Captain Edmund Blackadder, the FLANDERS PIGEON MURDERER??!?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Perhaps it died at high altitude and buried itself on impact....... Local kids having a laugh? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted February 15, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 15, 2012 Perhaps I'll have to send my question in to Springwatch when it reappears. I think the local kids (all quite nice) wouldn't be in my back garden. The dog tends to go ballistic as soon as anyone approaches the house (only because he wants to play with them, he is very friendly.) I'm didn't realise how odd this was, I thought someone would tell me it was typical behaviour of some creature. I forgot to mention the pigeon did look as if it had been partially eaten. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
halfwit Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I would say fox, they are known to stash food. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted February 16, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 16, 2012 I would say fox, they are known to stash food. Thank you. After reading your suggestion I entered fox food stash into Google and found similar descriptions of fox food storage. Apparently they hide it and "mark" it to deter other animals. Unfortunately for the fox the spaniel nose seems undeterred by such tactics. Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornish Triang Paul Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Have often wondered why in this super-detail age, people dont have them on their layout stations. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted February 16, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 16, 2012 I too would say fox - we've had them bury occasional titbits in our back garden and they can very definitely sniff out buried meat (past interred ex-cats have usually had a buried, horizontal, gravestone for that reason). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewC Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I'm not aware of any neighbours dabbling in the occult or even any disputes that would cause them to bury a pigeon in a pot in my garden! Robbie does do a good Muttley impression but doesn't bear any grudges against pigeons! Do any of your neighbours indulge in paranormal Activia? If so they may have just been dabbling in the Yakult. Good question though. I have heard that dogs and foxes will sometimes stash meat by burying it. Mum's Cocker once tried burying a dead skunk. (just don't ask) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted February 16, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 16, 2012 When one of the pet rats was buried in the garden the vet told us to bury her about three foot down under a piece of slab otherwise foxes would certainly dig. The vet said that finding bits of deceased pet in the garden could be upsetting (and that the amount of anaesthetic in the pet might also not be good for the fox). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted February 16, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 16, 2012 Do any of your neighbours indulge in paranormal Activia? If so they may have just been dabbling in the Yakult. Good question though. I have heard that dogs and foxes will sometimes stash meat by burying it. Mum's Cocker once tried burying a dead skunk. (just don't ask) I sent the joke about the Yakult to my "psychic" brother in law. He had seen it coming though. With something as sensitive as a Cocker (spaniel) I wonder if everything smells like a dead skunk. My solitary dead skunk experience encouraged me to be more careful what I run over. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Perhaps I'll have to send my question in to Springwatch when it reappears. I think the Humble-bird is on on a "Winterwatch" next week Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewC Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I sent the joke about the Yakult to my "psychic" brother in law. He had seen it coming though. With something as sensitive as a Cocker (spaniel) I wonder if everything smells like a dead skunk. My solitary dead skunk experience encouraged me to be more careful what I run over. When I was in the wild wild west, we had a lot of wildlife, obviously. Coyotes, moose, wapati, deer, bears, skunks, wolves, etc. Skunks were always the worst to deal with. Foul tempered smelly little so and sos. Coyotes would leave half eaten critters all over the place to be dined on by the dogs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted February 16, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 16, 2012 After removing the pigeon yesterday I replaced the soil in the pot. Overnight something has a had a look in the plantpot. Also overnight something has started tunnelling under a ceanothus next to a fence. The hole is about 6 to 9 inches in diameter. I think a fox is definitely the culprit. Robbie has insisted on being let out on some evenings, for no apparent (to us!) reason. Perhaps he has seen the fox when he has been looking out of the window. Although our dog barks if humans approach the house, he doesn't bark at animal "intruders",in the back garden, he just runs straight at them. Before we had the dog we used to get a lot of foxes in the garden, they seemed to like to sunbathe here. Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted February 16, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 16, 2012 We had a few small holes dug last autumn - almost certainly foxy and easily dissuaded by plenty of large and sharp stones in the holes. Here are a couple of pics of our resident fox family back in 2008 (the the garden is now a bit tidier) I never managed to get mum and all 6 cubs in one shot but here - if you look carefully - are 5 of the offspring enjoying a day in the garden And here are 4 of them through the telephoto lens a little later Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 When one of the pet rats was buried in the garden the vet told us to bury her about three foot down ..... (and that the amount of anaesthetic in the pet might also not be good for the fox). Well the anaesthetic hadn't done the rat much good, had it..?!?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted February 16, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 16, 2012 Well the anaesthetic hadn't done the rat much good, had it..?!?! In some ways it had. The vet explained that for rat euthanasia quite a lot of anaesthetic is used as it had to be injected into the body rather than a blood vessel. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I think the Humble-bird is on on a "Winterwatch" next week I was rather hoping for another run of Lambing Live..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I was right - BBC Springwatch Can now confirm Winterwatch will be at 9pm on 22 Feb, BBC Two. Hope to see you then... (It's a Wednesday night so you've really no excuse!)" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohmisterporter Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Robbie urinating on their nuts seemed to discourage them. It would certainly have that effect on me! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I have a solution to fox problems involving a certain amount of black powder and a small piece of lead. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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