Once, it's a mystery. Twice, it's a message.

[resonant]

OK, there were two more headless baby bunnies on the lawn yesterday. I buried them in the same hole with the first one and its head. I know it's probably a dog, but it's still beginning to creep me out.

Comments

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, okay, that's disturbing.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

It really is. I'm just glad I wasn't eating any meat today.

[carta.livejournal.com]

yikes.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

[nodding and shuddering]

[carolyn-claire.livejournal.com]

You're probably right about it being a dog--they do that. He's found a warren and is going through them.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

In fact, I found the hole that leads down to the tunnel. Something had pulled out a hunk of dried grass mixed with gray bunny fur, which made me feel so bad for the mother bunny who had put so much of her fur into this whole project!

[daylyn.livejournal.com]

Ew. Could there be overcrowding of the rabbit warren? I know (and this is really gross, btw) that mother rabbits will... (really gross)... eat their newborn young if the conditions are too crowded.

Perhaps they're discarded plot bunnies. Okay... I'll just stop while I'm ahead.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

hee -- I've certainly got some plot bunnies that show no evidence of any brains.

[stillane.livejournal.com]

I don't know. In my experience, it's more often a cat that goes for the reverse-Godfather act. *shrug*

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

That's my experience too. At least they aren't being left in the dining room ... for you to step on ... in bare feet.

*shudders at memory*

yeah, yeah, mighty hunter, I get it.

[vickita.livejournal.com]

Aieeeee!!!

Yeah, probably a dog, but ghastly, nonetheless. Gah.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Very. I hope this is the end of them.

[florahart]

...Ew.

I assume you are not pregnant; my cat used to bring me daily headless birds when I was, years ago. Though, of course, the cat would want credit:

Cat: *proud*
Me: OH GOD STOP IT
Cat: WTF? PRESENT.
Me: *whimper*
Lather, rinse, repeat.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

It wouldn't be a miracle, but it would be very unlikely. Anyhow, our cats don't go outside, so if one of them wanted to feed me and my putative litter, it would have to do it by catching the Japanese lady beetles that keep getting into the house.

[akite.livejournal.com]

You haven't piss off anyone named Alex lately, have you?

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Is that the thrill killing guy? Maybe I should ask what the rabbits did to offend him.

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

I would actually guess it's a cat. Dogs tend to go for the bodies, and take them away to bury if they're saving them for a snack later. For some reason it's cats who often take the heads and leave the bodies when the two, uh, separate.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

How odd. The hunting behavior of overfed suburban house carnivores.

[skuf.livejournal.com]

I'mma say cat, too, but either way, it's not too pleasant O_o

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that the thought that it's animals is a bit of a relief to me; our lawn is actually bad enough that I wondered if one of our neighbors might have done it for revenge.

[reedfem.livejournal.com]

I'll go with cat also. Beheaded birds on the lawn. Ewwwww.

That or my plotbunnies have given up on me and are committing suicide over at your house...

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Like in the Jim's Big Ego song: "Another person said that she / cut her own head off with a knife. / I say that woulda been too hard, / not the best way to end your life."

[sobelle.livejournal.com]

Hee! So much collective experience with critter heads on your list.

Alas? I too have had similar experiences. squirrel heads mostly. and gopher heads. gifts from my cats.

Although the plot bunny comments are disturbingly humorous.

(your flist is a strange and unusual place ;)

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

All knowledge resides on the internet. Of course, so does all misinformation.

[mzcalypso.livejournal.com]

The message is it's spring, the prey animals are plentiful, and you have a cat who's hunting for sport rather than food. If you've got a neighbor who lets his/her cat out, put the corpses on their doorstep.

Ever read "The Cats of Thistle Hill" by Roger Caras? Wonderful book, he was the guy who was President of the ASPCA and did color commentary on the big dog shows.. he & his wife had a farm and basically made heaven for any stray animals who wandered by. But he did have one cat who expressed his gratitude with 'wee gifties' of the sort you describe. And humorist Roy Blount had a cat that left him a rabbit-head right in the middle of his floor.

You need to let that anonymous donor-cat know that nobody likes a show-off...

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

There's a big black longhair who slinks through our yard a lot, but I don't even know who it belongs to.

[cereta.livejournal.com]

Possibly you have a bunny Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees?

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

bipagan suggested a bunny Duncan or Methos.

[betagoddess.livejournal.com]

Yikes! That IS creepy. Our old dog once killed a rabbit, but he buried it in our garden.

Maybe there's an owl around at night?

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I found the dug-up burrow, so I'm thinking not an owl but some ground creature. Though the kidlet is convinced it's a hawk.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

People seem to have had the opposite experience of cats than mine-- my cats have always taken the body and left the head, not vice versa. I think most animals do, as the head is the hardest part to eat. /icky

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

It's a crazy thing to have to think about.

These were little, though, small as mice, so I don't think they'd have been too much of a challenge.

Just, how did they tear the heads off?

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

That's odd. Skunks will do that to chickens -- kill, take the heads, leave the carcasses (extremely freaky if not downright alarming the first time you see a henhouse full of decapitated corpses) -- but I haven't heard of them doing it to rabbits.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Oh, weird. I'm not aware of any skunks in the neighborhood, but I suppose they could be there and just be keeping out of sight.

[iibnf.livejournal.com]

My father's old cat, Judas, used to bite the heads off my sister's rabbits. Sometimes just the top of the head, leaving the brain exposed and the rabbit alive.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Oh, now, that is creepy. You should have called him Ozzy.

[bipagan.livejournal.com]

I'm telling you, it's the Immortals. Squirrels are their Watchers. It all makes sense now.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I always knew those squirrels were up to something.

[fer-de-lance.livejournal.com]

I'd bet on a cat, but that's because the time I stepped in a kitty offering of half a chipmunk has kind of scarred me for life.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, it would.

This conversation has been making me think about the way our most popular pets are predators. But prey animals don't seem to like being pets.

There's a pet shop near here that keeps the small animals in big bins the size of two bathtubs, so you can go and pick one up and cuddle it. And the hamsters and rabbits and guinea pigs all cower under their shelters and refuse to come out, but the ferrets lounge around on their backs, snoring, not afraid at all. "Hey!" they think. "Nine-tenths of the life forms in this store are food! Life is good!"

They don't keep rats in the bins. They're probably too smart to stay there.

[kbhiddema.livejournal.com]

And once again, I'm so very glad our cats don't go out.

Though, our Mika (in the icon) once brought us a live mouse. Husband went to find out why the mewoing sounded funny and ended up with a live mouse skittering out of his hand. The shriek was... memorable. She evidently thought we needed to be taught how to catch food. And she still thinks we can't groom ourselves, she's always trying to lick our legs and feet as we go by.

[celestialcuming.livejournal.com]

If you lived in South Africa I'd totally tell you to go see a sangoma. That is seriously messed up! We had a situation when i was little. Our neighbours weren't too fond of my family so one of then went to a witch doctor and got blood - what of we never found out - and decorated our front stoep with it every night so every morning when we woke up we'd have gore smeared all over the place. Where the whole thing gets totally weird is that my Gran, who lived with us then and took care of my bro, sis and I, mopped the stuff up using a rag instead of a mop. That night she couldnt move. My parents took her to hospital but the docs were pretty much stumped. She recovered, came back home a week later. The blood stopped when we moved. It was pretty grim for a while there.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Ooh, creepy! I always figured that stuff couldn't hurt you as long as you don't believe in it. (Whereas no matter what I believe, I still have to bury the little bunny bodies, alas.)

[celestialcuming.livejournal.com]

And now I've read other people's comments I feel kinda stuck in the dark ages. *Blushes* It really - uhm - is probably a cat ;)