Normally a mountain lion would drag a kill to cover and would eat internal organs first. The remains would be covered by debris until the rest of the body was eaten.

Based on the way it was eaten and where it was found, I would say a canine did it.

Glenda,

Sorry about the poor little calf.

I'm not an expert at what something looks like after its been eaten by a cougar. I'm only familiar with what a cougar looks like strolling past my garden fence.

However, both Tim and I looked at the photo a few minutes ago (before Scott answered, so his answer didn't influence ours) and felt it looked more like coyote or feral dog/escaped pet dog damage. That's assuming you didn't drag it out of a brush pile or uncover the body and clean it off. Usually a cougar drags off its prey and, after eating, kind of covers it up with leaves, twigs, dead grass, etc. so it can come back for another meal later. When our friend's Australian Shepherd (the brother of our dog, Sheila) was drug off and killed by a cougar about a decade ago, they found its remains covered up in the manner I described above. That happened just a couple of miles northeast of our place.

If it were a cougar, it likely would be coming back to feed again sometime this week, so you might be extra careful with the calves. I will say this--usually coyotes eat more around the abdomen area, I think, and cougars sometimes do go more for the throat/chest (Scott will correct me if I'm wrong) and all the wild things seem to go for the organs while eating, but neither one always does one thing or the other. Apparently there is no uniform code of coduct for the wild things.

Did you see any other sign like footprints or scat or fur snagged on a nearby tree or brush or barbed wire fence? That could help with an ID.

Dawn

Thanks guys. The calf was right at the edge of a woody area that drains into the pond. It was not covered up. I didn't think to look for lots of blood under the body. We will check it again. Not much we can do on 175 acres. We know we have seen coyotes on the place....a lot but just never had them kill anything before. Lots of rabbits around. Dog killed one last week.

We have lived here since 1991 and only one other time thought something had killed a calf.

Mountain Lions are not as rare in Oklahoma as some say, but they seldom kill livestock...they like deer much better. Coyotes kill calves more often and alway on the alert for a calf whose is seperated from his mother. I have personally witnessed a coyate attack on a calf that became seperated from the cow.

Glenda,

I meant to add that our friend who lost the dog, and a neighboring rancher, sat outside with guns all night for several nights after the dog was killed, hoping the cougar would come back to finish eating the dog and they'd be able to 'take care of it', but it never returned. I sort of assumed it saw them, heard them or smelled their scent and knew not to return.

Dawn

DH just checked again and it is still laying there. The mama was there with it now! Blast her!

We raise cattle too - and unfortunately cows are like humans - some are excellent mothers, some good, and some not worth a flip. We have cows that will stay within a few feet of a new calf for a couple of months after they are born - others will go to the other side of the farm and leave a newborn laying unprotected, even at night. We have stray dog problems around here - your calf looks like a dog kill to me, have you noticed any stray dogs, esp when there is more than 1 dog running loose. Sorry for your loss, it's a part of farming that never gets easy.

I agree hard to tell from the photo's. Could easily be dogs. Close to the plant where I work there was a bobcat move in. He thinned the birds out and then started on baby calves. But I never saw his kills so not sure what they looked like. I do understand they removed him. Many times around here when it is dogs they are running in packs. And you see and hear them. Jay

Sorry about your calf; but now you are worrying about your other calves I'm sure. I hope you find the culprit. If it is dogs they will be back. My dogs had deer bones last winter. First it was a leg, then the other leg and then a big piece of hide. They didn't kill the deer; they found it I'm sure.

Jay, that just reminded me; my neighbor immediately adjoining us called me about a month ago and said her son came dashing into the house yelling "get the camera" there is a big bobcat in the neighbors's yard (in between part of our farm and hers. She tried to get some; said it was the biggest one she had ever seen. I never asked her if the pictures come out or not. I think I will call today and check. She has also see one cross the road at night just below us where a creek is.

That neighbor I mentioned where the bobcat was has lost about 50 chickens over the last year to something or other.
I didn't think a bobcat could bring down a calf that might have weighed 50 lbs? It was a small black angus heifer calf.

last time i saw something like this it was done by coyotes. we lived in the country in creston, ca. and saw a mother cow crying out in the field. when we got there she was standing over her baby. So sad because we could not help her. do you have coyotes?

Glenda,
I have seen more trouble with coyotes and dogs. As they are more common. And still feel they are the most likely culprit. We don't have many bobcats around usually. I just mentioned the bobcat as I found it unusual to have problems with one and cattle. But then again when hungry animals due things not normal. Jay

We definitely have coyotes! See them weekly. My first thought was a coyote. We will probably never know. It was still in the same spot yesterday afternoon. Here, usually, the carcass disappears overnight. We will check this morning.

Glenda,

We have the same coyote issues, and often see them although not necessarily weekly. We hear them just about every night though.

One clue for me last year that we had a big cat around (both before the first sighting and then between the first and second sighting and continuing on for a couple of months after the second sighting) was that our coyotes became more and more and more scarce and we went a couple of months without hearing a single one. Once the coyotes came back, I felt better (ironically).

Dawn

Was the calf healthy? You said the mother wasn't caring for her properly. If the calf was weak, that would make it a target. Any dog that happens by that carcass now would chew on it, even your harmless nonkiller pet that you have spoken of. So even if you see dogs now you won't know if they were the killers.

Glenda, I am so sorry for your loss. We have lost about 15 chickens this year to something. We have an 8 foot chain link fence around their area and we have never had a problem with that height of a fence until this spring. A few months ago we saw a large cat at the back of our pond a few times. Each time we were close to it we never had a gun with us or when we did it was running thru the pasture and my husband didnt get a good shot at it. It was black, long tail, and went about a 1/3 of the way up a large round hay bale. You can hear it screaming at night, 3 other neighbors have seen it too. But last week I found a baby deer on the edge of the tree line that was not burried. But it could have been coyotees, we have those too so I couldnt tell you. One thing is that it visits our coop at night and leaves poo right outside their door as if to say "I am waiting for you". Its creepy, my husband is going this weekend to get a night camera. We can sit outside all night and nothing comes out, then we dont sit out there and we find poo in the morning again. Hope you guys find out what it is, its always hard to loose live stock you work so hard to keep.

danni, I will be following your camera technique. We both want a night camera.

helen, this is a little calf that laid in the fence row by the road all day a couple of days ago. I was worried it was sick or dead, especially because I never saw the mama all day. When we went out to check it, she jumped up and butted me! She then darted across the field looking for her mama. Finally we got the darned cow down where the calf was and the next day it was fine and with the mama at least when we saw her. I don't think it was weak or sick and DH saw it get colostrum.

Dawn, DH just told me he hadn't seen any for a week or so.

When he hauled the calf out of the field with the cows and calves, the mama went crazy and when he came back she followed the tractor all over the field. I guess she could smell the baby. Sad for her and us!

dannisgirls,

You may have a hawk taking your chickens.

There aren't any black mountain lions so what you guys are seeing could be anything.

My experience from growing up out in the country - probably a dog or pack of feral dogs. Woke up one Christmas morning years ago to an entire pen of lambs that had been slaughtered by a pack of dogs. Feral dogs will often kill for the purpose of killing (imo) while many of the other aforementioned potential culprits would most likely have killed for food. My parents solution was to raise Great Pyranese - Hansel and Gretel - and after they were grown, we never did lose another lamb.
~Laura

When we lived close to where Paula is holding the Spring Fling, we had dogs kill and injure our sheep.

Danni girl if you think the animal leaving the poo is the chicken killer, a naturalist could probably identify the animal by the scat. If you post a picture on the wildlife forum, someone may know what produced it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Identify animals by their feces