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You might have coyote and fox... I rarely see rabbits around here either. Just this year, I saw a couple I think they had a nest behind our garage.
Rabbits are tasty and a main part of the diet of coyote and foxes. The coyotes would leave the stray cats around here alone... I am guessing they weren't good eats.
Okay, once again will play the "Cats are not victims" card and disagree on the widely held belief that owls are a major threat to domestic cats. A GHO weighs around 3 1/2 pounds. They look much larger due to the wide wingspan and feathers. They are very lightly boned, and easily injured. An adult cat will be at least double, or up to quadruple, the weight of the owl. In the animal world, for a predator to attack another predator much larger than itself is extremely dangerous, and is only rarely attempted. If any of you have ever been attacked by a cat, you will recall just how fast they are, their reactions are lightning fast. If the owl's wing should be broken, or it's leg or foot badly injured, it would be a slow death sentence for the bird.
Owls usually hunt small rodents like mice, rats, voles, and small birds, not large powerful predators that can kill them. Even a rabbit can be risky, since a rabbit can land a strong kick. When a raptor does kill an animal too large to pick up and fly off with, it must feed on the ground, and thus the bird then becomes a possible target for a predator. The raptor that is a major threat to a cat is the fierce Golden Eagle, a female can be as much as 15 pounds. When a kitty vanishes and the owl is blamed, more than likely it was a coyote, cougar, domestic dog, or bobcat that did the deed.
Your experiences may incline you to disagree, one cannot argue with what their own eyes have seen, and this is also the case with me. I agree that a big barn tom is an unlikely victim for an owl, but the smaller females, runts, and kittens are not so unlikely. House cats that have ventured out and been toned are also not the formidable critters the barn cats are either, nor are they near as canny.
Coyotes have zero problem with cats of any size or stripe, as far as domestic cats go anyway. They know exactly what they are dealing with and how to come out on top. As for owls, the female GHOs are much much smaller than the males, whos wings can exceed four feet. They are huge, not much smaller than an eagle.
There was a pair of GHs living around my buddys horse spread last year. The male took a neighbors wife's Chihuahua, right in front of him. The female hit my buddys chicken coop one night, pinning a rooster that was a bit bigger than her. The rooster lived, as the owl became spooked when we came out to see what the ruckus was. Lol, but he was a bit...shaken, and always run into things and never stopped doing so , after his near death experience.
When my parents lived out in the boonies (I forget which state) they owned a little chihuahua/poodle mix. My mother was told by neighbors very specifically to not let her out in the back yard alone, as some of the bigger hawks and eagles would try to carry away the dog.
I kept a number of guinea pigs for a friend once while she was moving. She would come over once a week and clean cages, and while she did so, we put the guinea pigs in a dog exercise pen, so they could run around on some grass. One day, a huge hawk flew into the top of the redwood tree right over us. My friend looked up and said, "I wonder what he's thinking?" I followed the hawk's gaze down and you guessed it! There were the guinea pigs in the pen. Needless to sat, I had to stand guard while my friend finished cleaning the cages.
We recently moved to a rural property in WV and have been here a little over six months now. Part of what I love about the place is the constant meanderings of the local wildlife--deer, wild turkeys, groundhogs, opossum, fox, etc. But I got to thinking... we have never seen a single rabbit. Not even one! It made me wonder if there's a reason. Are there just too many other animals in the area that are higher on the food chain and thus killing them off? It just seems odd. Any thoughts?
Foxes and coyotes, owls, hawks, snakes, etc. kill them out.
Years ago people left brush piles in the wood for rabbit to live in,
easy in and out protection.
Modern man wants every thing to look clean and pretty,
which does not work well with all wildlife.
Because many predators are nocturnal we don't realize how many are around. I had worked out of a freight terminal in Carlisle, PA. There were several dockmen that were trappers. They claimed that they caught over four hundred fox in the one season. Considering that we are lucky to see one only every decade; it is amazing that so many are around.
Before I started driving truck on our roads I would see fox by the fright terminals when I was a yard jockey. Many nights I would watch them try to get new born fawns. The does would protect their fawns and I never did see a fox get one - but they have to be successful to constantly try?
I agree that a big barn tom is an unlikely victim for an owl, but the smaller females, runts, and kittens are not so unlikely. House cats that have ventured out and been toned are also not the formidable critters the barn cats are either, nor are they near as canny.
Of course the young and runts would be vulnerable, that is a given. In the wildlife world all young can be victims, no matter how large or strong the adults are. Mongooses have been known to kill lion cubs.
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Coyotes have zero problem with cats of any size or stripe, as far as domestic cats go anyway. They know exactly what they are dealing with and how to come out on top.
I have never observed this, and only spoken with one man that claims he has, but every now and then have heard of a very large, very tough, "Top Gun" type of tomcat fending off a coyote long enough to discourage it and making it's escape. The cat never flees or fights defensively, but goes on the offensive, attacking the coyote. There are a few cats that hate dogs, and will go out of their way to attack one that they think can be defeated. A coyote looks like a a scrawny medium sized dog, so----. Unknown is the pain tolerance of coyotes, but to have it's face raked and nose slashed by sharp claws must hurt badly. Even worse if an eye or eys are clawed. Man I spoke to some years ago claimed his 13 pound tomcat was so tough that the local coyotes, as well as most of the dogs in his neighborhood, left him alone.
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As for owls, the female GHOs are much much smaller than the males, whos wings can exceed four feet. They are huge, not much smaller than an eagle.
On this we disagree. In most raptor species, females are larger and heavier than males, more aggressive, and hunt larger prey. This holds true for GHOs and Golden Eagles.
Of course the young and runts would be vulnerable, that is a given. In the wildlife world all young can be victims, no matter how large or strong the adults are. Mongooses have been known to kill lion cubs.
I have never observed this, and only spoken with one man that claims he has, but every now and then have heard of a very large, very tough, "Top Gun" type of tomcat fending off a coyote long enough to discourage it and making it's escape. The cat never flees or fights defensively, but goes on the offensive, attacking the coyote. There are a few cats that hate dogs, and will go out of their way to attack one that they think can be defeated. A coyote looks like a a scrawny medium sized dog, so----. Unknown is the pain tolerance of coyotes, but to have it's face raked and nose slashed by sharp claws must hurt badly. Even worse if an eye or eys are clawed. Man I spoke to some years ago claimed his 13 pound tomcat was so tough that the local coyotes, as well as most of the dogs in his neighborhood, left him alone.
On this we disagree. In most raptor species, females are larger and heavier than males, more aggressive, and hunt larger prey. This holds true for GHOs and Golden Eagles.
That's the interesting thing with GHOs. The males are the bigger. It is the reverse of most raptors. I.E. the Perigrine falcon. The females are the "pride of kings". However, male GH owls are HUGE. MUCH MUCH, larger than the females. As to our friendly disagreement on cats as victims, again, we are discussing that from very disparate experiences. Especially where coyotes are concerned. Cats are down on the food chain herebouts. Lost a LOT of cats to yotes, and owls as well, over the years. The last cat I had that went down to coyotes was a big , grey tom, I was actually quite fond of. His name was Sheets. He survived the encounter, but was so tore up I had to put him down.
I was rather pissed, and ended up declaring war for a couple weeks, culling three, good sized, yotes of my spread. As a general rule, my barn cats took their chances with Wiley, but. I LIKED this cat, so I took some vengeance. Lol, that cat was cool. I was the only one who could get close to him. He was lord and liege of the barn. Warlord of the haystack. Viscount of the tack room, where he sat in throne on the seat of my saddle.
Wild life adapts when pressured. Often rural areas mean Coyotes seldom seen except under extreme pressure when they appear during day light .Even deer bed up during day except for rut and seeing them means they are hungary enough to risk it.
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