Wild Animal Attacks, Kills Horse
Wildlife Officials Say Evidence Points To Wolf
POSTED: 10:56 pm CST January 31, 2009
WATERTOWN, Wis. -- Residents in Jefferson County are on high alert after a horse on a farm in rural Watertown was attacked and killed by some kind of wild animal.
Amanda Saxby found the horse on Monday. She said, "It was horrifying to come down and see her in the condition that she was in."
Saxby described the neck injury to her veterinarian who then told her to call the Department of Natural Resources.
Based on the horse's wounds and what she was told by wildlife experts, Saxby thought the wild animal that attacked the horse may be a cougar.
"By the pattern of the attack, being in her throat area and her head area, that's characteristics of a large cat compared to a wolf would prey on an animal or take down from behind," Saxby said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture took over the investigation, but experts don't know exactly what killed the horse because the family had already buried it.
Wildlife officials documented tracks in the snow and looked at another one of Saxby's injured horses.
Saxby said that horse suffered paw marks across her rear on both sides and teeth marks and puncture wounds on the inside of her leg.
The USDA said the tracks resemble that of a canine, possibly a wolf.
Saxby may never know what killed their horse, but she said they're taking extra precautions.
She said, "We have completely changed our feeding schedules. We're making sure everything is done during the daylight hours and that multiple people come down at one time."
Just last year, a cougar was spotted in Rock County and eventually shot to death by police in a Chicago neighborhood.
The USDA said, recently, there have been no legitimate sightings of cougars in southern Wisconsin.
From what I have heard, The Lady went out to feed her horses and found one dead with the fatal wounds being to the neck and throat area... Another horse was wounded with deep claw scratches into both sides of its rear. the lady called the State Veterinarian. The Vet said he was quite sure that the injuries and bloody tracks in the snow were from a cougar... He asked the Lady to cover one of the best tracks with a 5 gallon bucket to preserve it. Then told her to call the DNR.
The DNR sent Warden David Walls to the scene. David looked at the track and the horses and said he was certain it was a Mountain lion.David said its the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture to handle this case and called them in... They waited a couple days before showing up and said that they could not consider the track evidence cause the track had deteriorated, and could not consider the wounds to the dead horse cause the family had buried it. They then said all evidence points to a wolf because the surviving horses wounds came from an attack from behind ( cats attack at the neck/ canine attack from behind ). Personally, its hard to believe that they could mistake the scratches in the horses rear as that of a wolf
Meanwhile, WISN reported the story about the Cougar, but for some reason changed the online version after the Dept. of Ag. released there findings...
Its interesting that David Walls thought it was a cougar... I have met david, he has been over here a time or two. I know he knows the difference between a feline and a canine track...? He also told some people a resident in Lake mills has a trail cam photo of a cougar.
I wonder why the story changed???