Wednesday, November 14, 2012

coyotes and sheep. Warning: GORE

 I've been seeing a lot more coyotes this fall than I have in the last few years.  This dog was out looking at a neighbors property this morning when i left the house.  They keep a few chickens, and I'm guessing that it could hear/smell the chickens and was trying to figure out the best way to go get a chicken dinner. 
 It's fairly rare to see them stand out in the open like this, and I'm wondering if this particular dog was challenged in some way.  the fur on its tail and hindquarters looks pretty mangy.  Usually by this time they're in their full winter coat. 
I don't shoot them out of hand, but I did talk to the neighbor and let them know that a 'yote was casing their joint.  They have a couple of small dogs as well as the chickens, and a hungry 'yote will eat most anything it can catch. 

I haven't gotten the coyote that is killing my sheep yet.  I lost another ewe this morning -- my farm and my house are miles away, so the two coyotes are not the same dog.  If I'd seen a coyote on my farm this morning, there wouldn't be any decision at all; I'd shoot it. 
Coyote attack on a pregnant ewe
Had to put her down, the wounds were too severe for me to treat.  Real shame.  Nice ewe, nicely pregnant. 

5 comments:

Math Geek said...

Just curious- do you butcher the ewe in this case? I think I would have, just cut around the damaged part.

Bruce King said...

I hate to waste a good animal, and when we know the cause of death (in this case, I killed it after looking at it carefully and deciding that it was too badly wounded to attempt to treat...)

I have 5 good-sized dogs, so the parts that we didn't retain for our freezer did go into the dog food fund. All of the dogs get 1 to 2lbs of meat a day, mostly slaughter offal, and free-choice kibble.

So yes, we did slaughter, skin and salvage most of this animal. Unfortunately she was pregnant, and I hated to see her go, but this stuff happens sometimes.

Leon said...

Do you know how he gets in?

Unknown said...

Ewww u freak,
The poor thing died the worst way possible and your standing there takin pics. Well duhh u cant save her now :( GLY and i mean seriously the nicest thing to do here is burry her and have some god damn respect and stop worrying about if youll make/ save more money!
JEES SOME PEOPLE!Rip baby, god will treat you BETTER than this disgusting excuse of a human!

Laura said...

Hmm, I see no disgusting human, just a decent person who put his sheep out of misery. She is alive and gored in this pic. To let her die naturally would be mean and wasteful. I am a artist but a realist too.