I'm sympathetic to just about all the views that have been expressed on this thread. I'm vegetarian and dislike killing animals, and yet realize that something has to kill wild animals to keep their populations in check. I'm less consistent than some of you, as I eat dairy products and eggs and wear leather shoes. In my part of Italy we're seeing the mountains and the hills, once heavily populated, slowing emptying of human presence. This has been going on since WWII and the process shows no sign of slowing or reversing. It looks as though vast tracts of Italy could end up as essentially a wildlife preserve, with the human population stuffed in the plains, along the coast, and in low-lying valleys. We live at 1500 feet above sea level, five miles from a good-sized town, an hour from a medium-sized city, and from our house I can be in downtown Milan in two and a half hours. And yet living here is a practical struggle. Public transportation is scarce and getting scarcer, and gasoline costs about $8-$9 a gallon. Roads are narrow, steep, winding, and in increasingly poor repair; every winter we struggle with snow and ice. A daily commute is a heroic contest, as is getting children to school, since many children aren't served by school buses, and all the high schools are down in the cities. The jobs are mostly in the flatlands. The fewer people live in the hills and mountains, the more expensive services for them become. When we moved here boars were already a problem, in part because they weren't the native Italian breed, but a larger, rooting kind that was introduced by hunters. As others here have noted, they're prolific, destructive, and dangerous. A few years ago we began to see roe deer locally; now they're well established and devastating to our garden, as well as to agriculture. It's with a sigh of relief that I've been hearing in the last year that we now have wolves. These moved first into the high mountains, and, with rapidly expanding populations, have come down into the hills, and I've even heard that they've gone as far as the plain. People who keep livestock aren't happy about them, but they apparently are doing great work keeping the wild boars in check, and should also help with the deer. I wonder when bears will show up? Italy will need a change in priorities and a lot of innovative thinking before the current trend changes--money wouldn't hurt either--and change, innovation, and money are all in very short supply here. So I expect we'll continue on in the current fashion, and half of Italy will fill with ghost towns. I just hope we can continue getting our daughter to school. A whole world of traditonal knowledge, experience, and culture is being lost, but on the other hand the seeds of a new primeval forest have been sown: who knows what ecosystems will arise? It's all quite interesting. Melissa

I wouldn't mind renting him for a few days to take care of my squirrels! We had a surprise visit too, but no photo because we weren't fast enough. We had a groundhog hopping around next door - he even hopped up their back stairs onto the balcony. This is especially odd when you consider that we live smack dab in the middle of downtown Montreal - concrete jungle and all! BP

Foxes, generally, do not eat earthworms although they might if no other food source is around. Moles, Voles, crickets, grasshoppers, caterpillars of various kinds, beetles are the mainstay of their diet. The best way to keep foxes, rabbits, deer, wild turkeys, etc, from eating your garden is to fence the garden in. I find a 4 foot tall 2 x 4 mesh welded wire fence works for most everything except voles, small rabbits, and squirrels.

Without seeing the deceased animals, it sounds like ordinary decay is taking place. The intestinal area is normally the first place to rupture due to the bacteria and hence, swelling of the rotting carcass. Sounds like something drug them out of their den after they died. If something killed them, such as a wolf or coyote, they would be ripped up and chances are, you wouldn't find them laying next to their den. Very possible that they were poisoned, whether intentional or not, that would be the most likely answer. One other answer would be some disease such as distemper, or even less likely, rabies. Animals that live together in dens and burrows, will drag out the dead from their home and usually leave them within sight of their home. Pictures may help. Kt