Nature at work. The protection instinct kicks in.

Sometimes things are not as they seem. Squirrels eat anything, and it may be that this squirrel was fighting the hawk over who would get dinner.

One time I was going down the interstate and saw a hawk with a wriggling snake in its claws! Shocker !!

We had a dead squirrel on a local road and the other squirrels was just sitting next to it. Like they wanted it to get up or they were morning the dead squirrel. I thought that was weird also.

I don't believe a squirrel would eat another (dead) squirrel. They are not known to be meat eaters, unless you count a grub or something like that.

I have seen a raccoon chase a coyote. Had a coyote here for several months that was dumped by people who took him as a pup, and he ended up here. I used to feed him. A raccoon that also lived here was up a tree chattering at him. When he turned to leave, she came down the tree and chased him. He did not turn around to attack her.

I've seen articles saying that squirrels eat baby birds out of their nests, lizards, snakes, and other critters. "Opportunistic omnivores". Perhaps they were a different kind of squirrel.

I remember my my mom telling about an incident that happened when she was a girl. They lived on a ranch and had chickens. One of the hens had a bunch of chicks and my mom was playing with them when a crow landed nearby and went after one of the babies. That mama hen attacked the crow and ended up killing it right in front of my mom who was too shocked to do anything but watch the battle.

Yes, they would possibly do that, but I don't believe they would eat a dead squirrel. And probably not a very big snake.

I know it is nature, but sometimes it is hard and sad to see. I don’t usually interfere, but 2 years ago there was a big bird commotion from my fish pond. I went to check and it looked like a young one was about to drown, so I grabbed it.

There was a big bullfrog attached to it! Have to admit I slapped the frog with my gardening glove until it let go. The bird seemed to be fine.

I have NO issue interfering with nature. One morning, as I was driving up my driveway, I saw what I thought was a small to medium dog in the yard. Until it spun its head around and i saw it was a HUGE owl. It flew away with a kitten in its claws. There was a feral cat that had kittens somewhere on our property. I was livid. If I see it again it's going down. Quite literally.

My sister and her husband have had to eliminate a lot of foxes that try to eat their chickens. I like foxes. They eat the mice that go for the corn i put out for the deer or the bird seed in my feeders. I guess if I had chickens I would not be so welcoming...

That could have been a mother squirrel and her immature offspring. Squirrels are usually an avoidance creature, but who knows what a mother squirrel might do when her protective instinct kicks in. If the victim let out a distress scream, that would kick momma squirrel into gear.

I would have never dreamed that a squirrel would try to defend another one from a predator. I have seen a mother squirrel try to save her babies out of a neighbor's attic once when they sprayed something in it to get rid of them. She kept going in and bringing out each baby in her mouth. I was pretty impressed by that. But I don't like to see what animals do to each other to survive either, I just don't try to interfere with it. I've seen what happens to baby birds when discovered by a flock of crows, it's horrendous. Also we have a predatory bird here called a swallow-tailed kite, they are very noticeable right now because they prey on baby birds and squirrels in the Spring. They circle around low, always on the lookout. When they catch something they devour it without bothering to land on the ground, they just keep flying while they eat. I happened to see one in action near our house one day, it was so awful.

Yes, I've seen a bird attack and kill another bird while the other bird screeched the whole time. It is so upsetting, this happened 15 years ago and it still bothers me. I know it's nature, but I prefer not to see.

Amy, don't harm an owl; you could end up fined and even jailed for your efforts. I would certainly call and report anyone doing such a thing.

Earlier this winter, we had a shinned kite here for a few days that killed at least one Red Cardinal. I was devastated because they are my favorite bird. It was the first time I have ever had 4 pair of them, I am not sure if the hawk killed them all or just scared them off but I really wanted to shoot that @#$*& bird!!

There used to be a cottonmouth here, who would hide in the sunflower seed shells under the bird feeder, and I saw him eat two unsuspecting birds who landed under the feeder. I didn't interfere with him....the birds were already dead when I saw him in the process of swallowing them. I did like I always do when I see snakes....I turned and walked away.

At our place before we moved here, I had several mud bottomed ponds. I saw a king snake eat a diamond backed water snake, not very much smaller than himself. By the way, lots of snakes eat other snakes....not just king snakes.

I'm a big animal lover .Even though hearing things like this makes me sad, I know it's just mother nature taking it's course. My latest OOOOOH moment was a hawk carrying a mouse fly right past my windshield while I was driving. It was fascinating to see.

Just wanted to repeat what rhizo stated. Owls - ALL owls - are federally protected species (as are hawks and other birds of prey). It is illegal to interfer with them in any way. It is even illegal to own owl feathers!

I treasure my experiences witnessing unusual animal interactions in the wild, such as the one you saw, ritaweeda. I'd loved to have see that!

The bird/animal kingdom is a wonder at times. Where we lived in Michigan we had an open 1 acre field behind the house. For about 2 weeks we watched a crow there that for whatever reason could not fly. During the day several crows would fly in and hang around seemingly looking after it. At night the grounded crow would get up into a shrubby tree to roost alone. Then after about 10 days the injured crow was left alone wandering around the field and from time to time cawing pitifully. No other crows came around. Then one morning I was awakened by the sounds of many crows raising a big fuss. I went out to see what was going on. About a dozen crows were attacking that grounded crow and killed it. Was it a mercy killing...I have often wondered .

I have NO issue interfering with nature.

Many places have free programs to spay feral kitties, you just have to trap them and bring them in. Nature sometimes has high birthrates to compensate for high death rates (I'm sure that tons of feral kittens get (painfully) eaten by assorted critters) so interfering with that birthrate is a kindness.

The cat would not go in my traps, and now I don't know where she is. I haven't seen her in months. Probably eaten by an owl,along with her babies. I did catch a fox and a raccoon. Neither were pleased...

There are no free spay/neuter programs here and none that are reduced rate that are not obnoxious. But i did try to trap her. I can't be in a car with cats because my eyes swell shut but my sister would have driven her to the vet for me. It's easier just to pay for it myself.

It's easier just to pay for it myself.

You are awesome.

Nope. Just easily annoyed. I find you get condescension and impatience when dealing with organizations that feel that they are doing YOU a favor, when you are trying to help an animal that's not even yours. In my experience anyway.

I think all counties everywhere should employ veterinarians who just do free spays/neuters. That would go a long way toward helping prevent unwanted cats and dogs. Of course, in our county they'd claim there isn't enough money. Which never seems to be an issue when it comes to jail expansions or pay raises for county officials.

Kadefol I don't think the counties realize that if they had free spays they might not have to hire so many dog catchers to pick up strays.

I heard some loud growling kind of noise last night outside my window. Went out to investigate. Frying pan in one hand, flashlight in the other. There were 2 big cats laying on their sides, facing each other. What were they doing? Trying to stake out a territory? They didn’t even pay attention when I shown the light on them. One of them had a collar. I would prefer not to have cats in my yard in the first place, but we just had a neighborhood message about two weeks ago that we have a large active pack of coyotes around.

I suspect what you heard was two cats mating! Nature sometimes has a mean streak. This is what happens during a cat mating. At first, it is pleasurable, but when the male withdraws, he has a barb on his penis that rakes the female and that when you hear the screech. Her claws extend and she rakes the Tomcat. Before that, there may have been some low guttural growls. That raking at the end of the act is a necessity (nature smirks). It insures that the female will ovulate and impregnate. Without that painful stimulus, the female may not impregnate.