Mini mauled by wild animal IN HIS STALL - update June 3, 2014

[chandab]

Thanks for the tip about the blinking lights but I just read reviews of them on-line and the consensus seems to be "waste of money". Best bet is good fences and barn doors, and I still stick with my baby monitor to let us know if there is another attack. We would need 6 foot fences (ours are 4') and no gates (!!!) to really keep predators OUT.

Its more work, and they aren't fool proof, but you can make gates more predator proof by adding mesh to them. I have cut cattle panels and added them to all my gates; we mostly have coyotes to worry about, although they rarely seem to come close the corrals.

Here's one of my gates:



As you can see, the added mesh can add to your snow issues.

 

[Riverrose28]

Oh my, this sounds just horrable! Poor little guy. We used to have bob cats here accross the road in the state forest over 20 years ago, but hunters did them in, now we have coyotes as they have been reintroduced down by the river, hope they stay down there. Thank goodness you went out when you did and that you have a Vet close by.

 

[BSharpRanch]

Coyotes can and will jump six foot block walls to get to a meal. Have a friend who witnessed one coming over their fence, grabbing their black swan and then taking it back over the fence that quick! They have since installed two close together electric fence wires at the top and have had no further issues.

 

[amysue]

Forgot to mention if you decide to wire all of your gates and openings with mesh, you can get a tool at hardware stores that makes twirling wire ties around the gate real easy. Maple syrup makers call them "bat ties" and theyre great for making quick work of wiring mesh around tube steel gates. They are just a piece of wire with loops at both ends like this o____o but they are easier than cutting wire into pieces and tearing your hands up twisting them around the fence.

 

[Marty]

I can't get this off my mind. I'm going to throw something out there just for the heck of it. Wondering on the top portion of your gate if you can hang some large cow bells dowm low from itwhich may scare a predator away? I know there is some kind of contraption which you can put on your vehicle to warn you of creatures in the road ahead.....does anyone have a clue what that's about? Seems to me there should be some kind of motion detecting alarm system that can go off to scare something like that away.

Also have you checked with neighbors to see if they have seen anything?

 

[amysue]

They sell a device that emits pulsating waves that supposedly scare animals away. I have never tried it. I hang aluminum pie tins to scare birds so I suppose bells would work. Motion lights may work too as most predatory animals are nocturnal. Electrifying fence would probably help as long as it is tall enough so the predator cant jump over.

 

[wildoak]

Wow, how terrible! Like to think of my barn as a safe place, but I guess you never know for sure...

Jan

 

[targetsmom]

I did talk with animal control and they were as astounded as anyone else about how this could happen. We KNOW we have bears, mountain lions, bobcat, fisher, coyotes, etc in this area as I have seen ALL of these. A bobcat (or maybe THIS bobcat) and 2 coyotes were spotted on our road the night this happened. And this is within 15 minutes of Springfield, MA. As it turned out, the OUTSIDE horses were all fine, even though the animal (bobcat?) went through at LEAST two of the three turnouts; one to get in and one to get out. The feeling seems to be that this predator was not out to get Rusty, but somehow ended up in his stall, a battle started, and Rusty almost lost the war. Realistically, I don't think we (or most people) can keep predators out of our turnouts/pastures with 100% effectiveness. Most predators can either jump over fences or squeeze through small openings. But healthy mature animals (plural) should be at low risk. This was a freak occurrence which resulted in 2 animals trapped in a stall. But that doesn't mean we aren't taking as many precautions as we can. We added more wire yesterday to the area above the stalls where we often set our foaling cams. We have no plans to breed again, so would not need to use that area again anyway.

We pride ourselves on our horse care, so for this to happen is very upsetting, to say the least. But our horse care DID save Rusty's life, because if we had not done that bed check at 9:45 PM for sure I would have found him dead in his bloody stall the next morning. And we were not the only ones upset- my vet, who has been at this for 40 years, was so upset that he got no sleep that night. I left a message for him that "there is blood everywhere" and he didn't believe it until he got here and said "your are right - there is blood everywhere". Took quite a while the next day to scrub down both Rusty's and Clyde's stalls to remove the blood.

 

[chandab]

I know there is some kind of contraption which you can put on your vehicle to warn you of creatures in the road ahead.....does anyone have a clue what that's about?

If its what I think it is, its a deer whistle; a plastic thing that whistles in the wind when you are driving down the road (audible to animals but not people, and it doesn't usually bother animals riding in the vehicle). I had some on a vehicle years ago, I don't know how effective they were, but do know they would get plugged with dead bugs, rendering them useless.

 

[Minimor]

Deer whistles seem to work on the vehicle (I started having deer in the road in front of me and so checked my whistles and they were broken)--but they would be useless for keeping predators away from a barnyard.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Target NO-ONE is thinking you are less than conscientious, trust me! Let's hope this was just a one off and you will not get any more visits, but I do think a few idea are worth following up...I just wonder if it is worth spending a lot of money though, on something that may never happen again. Now, if you see footprints outside the door I would be really worried!

 

[targetsmom]

Rabbitfizz- So far, all the money spent is going to Rusty's vet care. We just closed tops of Dutch doors that were already up, or put one up that had never been installed. Tacking some leftover wire over the stall grill, and a 4-H friend installed some wire for us up real high. The baby monitor was already on hand. I do think this was very unlikely, but these things make us feel better anyway.

 

[Minimor]

I have to ask--does the stall grill swing, or how would any animal get through it--it doesn't look to be damaged in that photo?

 

[targetsmom]

No the grill is screwed in and bars are about 4" apart, fixed and don't appear bent or anything. Believe me, we have carefully checked the outside wall and the opening above the wall (at about 7') and really have no idea how the animal got in. The hay drop could be a possibility but then the animal would have to get into the barn and we keep the sliding doors closed and saw no indication of anything in the loft. I suppose there is a tiny chance that things happened in the opposite order - that is, that Clyde busted out FIRST leaving the door open for the predator to come in. I guess I could envision that happening if the predator was bothering his dad (and best buddy) in the turnout just outside his door, so he busted out to protect him...No marks on either of them though. And then why would the predator jump the 5' stall wall into Rusty's stall instead of the 2 much lower stall doors to get to the 2 weanlings that were also stalled in the barn? Well, Rusty IS smaller than either of the weanlings....

Bottom line, I don't think we will ever know what happened.

 

[Minimor]

How big is the opening above the 7' wall? A cat would have no problem jumping up over 7' --our pet cats can jump up 5' and the smallest of wildcats would have a lot more jumping power.

Assuming it was a cat, if it did get into the barn otherwise, say through Clyde's door, the 5' partition would have been nothing--5' or 3' would be all the same to a bobcat.

 

[misty'smom]

Targetsmom, I am just reading this now and I am so sorry this happened to your Rusty. Try not to beat yourself up too much over this accidents happen no matter how much we care for our horses. Who would think that not only a wild animal would get into your barn but then in one of your stalls, just a freak accident in my opinion. I am sure this has been a horrible nightmare to go through for you too. The important thing now is that Rusty gets better and back home!! I will say a prayer for his quick healing and recovery.

 

[eagles ring farm]

Mary I'm so sorry what an awful experience for you and Rusty's 4H owner. Prayers that he is healthy again soon

we have dutch doors in 1 barn and usually leave the top open when it's warm. the other 2 barns we have the barn doors open to the aisle

in warm weather. We really don't have preditors to speak of, but still a bit scary, as people have said there are coyotes in the area.

 

[targetsmom]

How big is the opening above the 7' wall? A cat would have no problem jumping up over 7' --our pet cats can jump up 5' and the smallest of wildcats would have a lot more jumping power.

Assuming it was a cat, if it did get into the barn otherwise, say through Clyde's door, the 5' partition would have been nothing--5' or 3' would be all the same to a bobcat.

That opening is big enough for a bobcat to get through (maybe 9" tall X 14" wide). That area collects a lot of dust from the hayloft and we saw nothing disturbed. You are right, our house cats love to sit on the refrigerator, so this should not have been a challenge. That area was closed in yesterday with very heavy wire that will keep out anything bigger than a mouse. I really think that is the direction of movement based on what the horses are telling us. The outside ones are still a bit nervous and look off to the south, but somehow the two weanlings - who must have witnessed the whole attack from just a few feet away - seem fine. Thank goodness!!!

 

[Rhondaalaska]

I am so sorry for you. I hope Rusty gets better soon.

 

[AnnaC]

How is Rusty doing Mary, please could we have an update - praying the little fella is pulling through after his ordeal.