quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
The Coyotes we hear sound a mile or more away, could be them I guess but why now? 22 in two weeks and none before in 4 years?

Food supply is everything in the wild.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
Poison.

I'd guess this.

My cats don't leave my house unless I'm carrying them, or they are leashed.

As someone who has tried to leash train a cat this had me laughing

I have 6 indoor cats that do not go out. I also have a few outdoor (feral) cats that I feed. I've only got 2 of those right now--my most faithful one (mother of 4 of my indoor cats) died a couple of weeks ago in my back yard. Those cats come and go. I had one faithful one just disappear a few months ago--probably hit by a car or killed by a predator.

I don't hear any coyotes around my home (city) but I do see an occasional raccoon or opossum come to my yard to eat. Used to have a skunk once in a while, but haven't seen one in years.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by doublesharp:
Wouldn't poison would leave dead bodies and kill indiscriminately? If the critters are vanishing w/out a trace I'd say yotes got em.

I think the Midwest has a bunch of black and turkey vultures these days, cat corpses would be attracting a lot of attention. Along those lines, plenty of predatory birds, owls come to mind.

Just finished a book where a parent of a child with severe asthma triggered by cat dander took it upon himself to relocate all the feral cats in his town. Teachers refused to keep them out of the school and the boy had a couple of close calls. Afterwards the town was split on the subject and it became very divisive.

Well, speaking as one that grew up in Middle Tennessee, and have visited Bell Buckle a number of times over my 58+ years, my guess is that these cats have just gotten a bit too drunk and are sleeping it off somewhere... Good times...

Assuming this is Bell Buckle, TN?

Have been through there MANY times; such a lovely little town and would love to live there!

My guess is that if humans were doing it, somebody would have noticed the hunting activity. Even if they were using night vision on a pellet gun. Some predators have started liking cat and/or doesn't like them in their domain is my guess.

Unless there all Toms and they found a cat house.

quote:

Originally posted by sjp:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
Poison.

I'd guess this.

My cats don't leave my house unless I'm carrying them, or they are leashed.

As someone who has tried to leash train a cat this had me laughing

My cats are well behaved, we taught them at a young age to wear the harnesses. They don't mind at all, Black is scared of the outside now though and won't stay out long. Gray is also afraid for some reason, but he stays out, just usually leans against our legs the whole time, that's his 'daddy protect me' mode.

They are both well behaved for their Mani/pedis as well. I've posted pics before of me using the Dremel to round their nails after trimming them.

Mani/pedi pics

I used to pick up my friend on my way to working Dominos pizza back in the day. I would pull up his long drive and he would be there with eight saucers of milk for his cats. He had a couple of strays and his momma cat had a bunch of kittens. After a couple of weeks i noticed when i picked him up that the number of saucers was dwindling. He told me he thinks the kittens must have been leaving the nest. After a couple of more days i notice he was just pouring one saucer of milk. He was sure the kittens had all wandered off. He pet his momma cat and left her to the milk. As we drove down the drive way I noticed motion in my rear view mirror. I turned and looked just in time to see a golden eagle flying off with his last cat. He was a bit disturbed when he realized he was setting his cats up for eagle strafing runs. Eagles gotta eat too!

quote:

Originally posted by gw3971:
I used to pick up my friend on my way to working Dominos pizza back in the day. I would pull up his long drive and he would be there with eight saucers of milk for his cats. He had a couple of strays and his momma cat had a bunch of kittens. After a couple of weeks i noticed when i picked him up that the number of saucers was dwindling. He told me he thinks the kittens must have been leaving the nest. After a couple of more days i notice he was just pouring one saucer of milk. He was sure the kittens had all wandered off. He pet his momma cat and left her to the milk. As we drove down the drive way I noticed motion in my rear view mirror. I turned and looked just in time to see a golden eagle flying off with his last cat. He was a bit disturbed when he realized he was setting his cats up for eagle strafing runs. Eagles gotta eat too!

Turn about is fair play.

We have had quite a few cats disappear in my neighborhood. One of my wife’s friends took the loss of two out of her three beloved cats within only weeks pretty hard. They went out one day and just vanished.

There have been reports of coyote in our neighborhood. Some of my neighbors have chickens which I can only assume would potentially draw a hungry coyote into our neighborhood. I have one cat who loves to go out side and one that doesn’t. I try to only let my cat go outside when I am home and never at night.

22 cats in a town of 500 is definitely worrisome. I wouldn’t be letting my cat go outside anymore.

We have had coyotes in North eastern Ohio for some time now.
And I can tell you that you might only find a mass of tiny bits of fur, or nothing at all if the coyotes take to "playing" with your cat.

We have had them come up onto the porch in the morning.
Unfortunately they are some sly predators and cannot be easily dealt with.
...edited to add..
My brother and I were set upon by a pack of ferrel dogs when we were young and traveled the rail road track to plink. These were mostly Beagles and mid-size dogs and their young. They all acted like they had rabis or something. Very vicious, Good thing a wide rail road ditch separated us or we might not be here today.
So I'm thinking that it is best to carry something like a semi-automatic if coyotes are known to be in the area. Where there's one there's more. And it happens quick.

Mrs. Lovett?

My brother lives near you off of 64. Outdoor cats don't make it long, and he has spotted (and ended) coyotes trying to lure his dog off. I don't know that your problem is 4 legged in Bell Buckle, but the area is thick with coyotes.

To echo others, we've had a few outdoor cats that neighbors have disappear and sightings of coyotes in the area recently would lead to the same conclusion.

Recent construction on land that had been basically open range undeveloped and never farmed in large quantities have dislocated several predatory animals as we see more gators in ponds and coyotes on the golf course.

Consequently, less cats...

A 22 rifle with cb caps served me well when squirrels were destroying my bird feeders, quieter than my pellet gun.

Funny, great minds think alike. Before opening the thread, just based on the title, my first thought was Vietnamese or Chinese restaurant.*

After reading the OP, song dogs (coyotes) seemed to be the clear culprit.

*Obligatory joke: What do you call a Vietnamese with four dogs? A rancher.

The coyotes around here are funny. If they are up in the orchard, they are targets, but if they are down in the valley, unless they are bothering the goats we leave them on the payroll as they are squirreling machines.

The other day I was down feeding the goat dogs and there was a coyote 20’ from the electric netting of one of the goat pens, squirreling away. The goats and dogs were ignoring it, as apparently were the turkeys (5 or 6 hens and about as many “teenage” offspring) 30’ from the ‘ote. The ‘ote appeared to be ignoring the turkeys too and just focusing on his squirreling. I’d guess he has figured out if he makes a move toward the turkeys they will fly off and if he were to get past the electric fence the Pyrenees/Anatolian cross would enjoy him for lunch so he focuses on what is available to him.

Made the local (Nashville TV) news.

Count now at 32.


BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — More than 30 pets have been reported missing in Bedford County.

Bell Buckle city officials say 32 cats have gone missing over the past month. The circumstances surrounding the disappearances were unknown.



“It started off with a couple of cats, going on Facebook saying, 'Hey, have you seen my cat?' Which turned into, 'No, but my cat is missing as well,' and it has no escalated. It went to 16, then it jumped to 23, as of today we’ve jumped to 32," Heather Williams of the Bell Buckle Chamber of Commerce said. “It’s strange.”

One of the people who lost their cats is Tori Taff. She was one of the first people to post about her cat on Facebook, and she has been keeping count of how many cats have gone missing.

While there are plenty of theories out there, including a human stealing the cats, a predator killing the cats, and many other scenarios, at this point there is no evidence to go by.

“We’re talking a tremendous amount of cats only with no bodies or carcasses being found all within a relatively short amount of time. 4 weeks, 3 to 4 weeks," Taff said. “We’re just concerned and it’s a mystery. We’re trying to figure out what’s going on."

The city sent out an alert to residents to let them know about the disappearances, and the hope is that no more cats will go missing, and answers will be found.

“Really it was just getting the word out to everybody and saying please put your pets up. You know, make sure you know where they are, make them safe, if you see anything, just let us know," Williams said.

Anyone with information should call Police Chief Tommy Wiley or Mayor Lokey.


https://www.newschannel5.com/n...r-the-past-two-weeks

Video from Channel 4 Nashville.

https://www.wsmv.com/video/doz...k09T0ZaitfTtqvgKN0dk