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Ponds & Aquatic Plants

What kind of animal catches fish?

Tommie Henderson

16 years ago

We have a small wooden dock at one end of our backyard pond. Yesterday, we discovered one of our fairly large fantails (dead) under the open steps (a 3 step riser). We also saw skeletal remains next to where we found the fantail. What kind of animal would catch a fish and devour it this way???

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Comments (5)

outdoorz
16 years ago
Any number of animals would do this to your pond fish--the first one that comes to mind is racoons.
figfarmer
16 years ago
Cats love eating pond fish, too. My 19 year old cat could catch a pond fish with one quick swipe of her paw. She never missed. She single handedly almost completely wiped out a dozen large goldfish from my pond.
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mike_il
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This sounds like a cat as the fish were not eaten. Most other animals would eat the fish and some cats would but most cats just line their catches up outside the pond.
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Tommie Henderson
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for the responses. I was kinda thinking raccoons. I guess it could be a cat, but I doubt it because no cats ever come into our backyard because of our 3 dogs. We are going to borrow a cage/trap, so hopefully we will find out for sure what it is.
buyorsell888
16 years ago
Raccoon would be the number one culprit. Something could have scared it off before it finished it's meal. Sometimes they catch more than they can eat too. It is common to find bones, fins or scales when they've dined. Birds eat fish whole. Raccoons don't.

Fishing cats aren't common.

Fantails don't swim very well, they wiggle at the top of the water and are more likely to be eaten by predators than comets , commons or shubunkins who can all swim faster and deeper.

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