Cat or fox?? Carnage in our front garden ??

Redhead56

Sounds like a cat a fox would have taken the carcass away.

Cats don't kill for pleasure. It's something that's hard wired into them. Same as dogs.

Oops! That wasn't the quote I meant to attach!
Someone had mentioned that cats kill for pleasure...
Sorry Redhead 56!

We often get sparrow hawks in the garden and occasionally see piles of features. Never seen an actual catch. This one is sitting on a hedge with loads of sparrows hiding in the very thorny hedge underneath. Wish they’d take out all the extremely irritating wood pigeons.

Pigeons do drop their feathers for the fun of it so a huge amount would have come out before the carnage was created

Cats don't usually finish off larger birds - too big a meal. Many years ago our cat killed a pigeon while we were away on holiday. He brought it in the house and left it half finished under the sofa. When we returned it was just starting to decompose. I kept noticing a smell whenever I entered the lounge and as my DS was still in nappies kept checking if it was him! Eventually I found the offending carcass, removed it and cleaned up the carpet with deodorising powder. Be grateful whatever is killing birds is leaving them outside!

We have a lot of magpies around here and a few months ago i looked out of the window to see a magpie stood on a pigeon pecking at it,and about 3 other magpies just stood around watching,
I dashed outside to see if i could scare them off, which i did but it took the poor pigeon with it
Also once saw a kestrel with a pigeon tried to save that too, but it took it with it
I have 2 cats,[Ragdolls] and they just sit around and watch the birds, and a squirrel, never attempt to chase,too lazy i think

I regularly have sparrowhawks downing birds. The smaller ones taken from the large shrubs are usually taken away by the birds to be devoured. The larger ones caught in the trees, or on the ground in the garden are also usually taken away but occasionally ripped apart on the ground. Think you may have a fox if happening overnight. Vultures usually hunt in daylight.

My money is on the sparrowhawk - and can I say what a great thread this is - loved every read and learnt a few things.

We’ve had the same problem with a kestrel so have stopped feeding the birds and squirrels. I think the kestrel saw our garden as a take away outlet. There are foxes in our area but they are only occasionally seen near the bins. Even the spoilt fat moggies around here take bird but not to eat. Cats are killers.

Foxes usually bite off the head and hide the rest for later. Sparrow hawks leave quite a mess with feathers and bits everywhere.

A fox and kestrel regularly take birds here - but it's nature and they have babies of their own to feed. Pigeons often fly into windows and break their necks too. I get the feathers up with the garage vac and put them in the compost bin.

I once found one of my cats in the garden with a pigeon. Feathers everywhere and he was covered in blood (he's mainly white!) and he ate all the breast meat before I removed the body.

I think a fox would probably take it away rather than eat it in the garden.

Domestic cats rarely eat what they kill. They may play with the body for a while but soon get bored with it. I have 4 cats & only one hunts. Her latest trick is to catch frogs out of our pond but they make such a loud scream type noise that she brings them indoors & looks hopefully for me to get rid of them. They are never hurt & I am pretty sure it is the same frog every time! You think he'd move home.