# Sheep carcass



## FishForLife2001 (Sep 23, 2014)

Hi all,

Walking my dog earlier today I saw lots of 'fluff' in a nearby field. I saw a skull with the spine attached, which all looks quite damaged and there were possibly bone fragments nearby, so I jumped the fence to get some pictures. There looked to be another one in the distance but it was too far away to confirm, and I was already trespassing as it was so didn't go any further.

Does anyone know how old this sheep would be? There were other sheep in the field but no apparent lambs.

Are there even predators capable of killing sheep in Britain? It was a secure field so I doubt dogs had gotten inside. 

Finally is it worth looking into this further and reporting to any organisations etc? 

(Not the best subforum to post in but it is the most applicable I think).

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## FishForLife2001 (Sep 23, 2014)

(You can see the second lot in the background behind the sheep).

















































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## FishForLife2001 (Sep 23, 2014)

By the way, there have been cows in said field too I think but surely they wouldn't kill a sheep, let alone do this amount of damage? Same with birds, surely crows etc couldn't do this to a carcass?

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## Inventor (Aug 31, 2007)

Probably died of natural causes, and been scavenged by foxes, crows, and everything else that can get a bit.


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## FishForLife2001 (Sep 23, 2014)

Cheers. Is this considered normal? I was mostly concerned that there were two in the field which seems less like dying of old age.

Anyone know the legality of taking a few bones?

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## Shellsfeathers&fur (Jan 18, 2009)

FishForLife2001 said:


> Anyone know the legality of taking a few bones?
> 
> Sent from my 9001X using Tapatalk


No, but I bet your Mum won't be too pleased...................
:2thumb:


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## FishForLife2001 (Sep 23, 2014)

Stephen P said:


> No, but I bet your Mum won't be too pleased...................
> :2thumb:


I have worse! Dried fish, moulted cockroach shells and boxes of snake sheds- not to mention all of the animals and their food in the fridge/freezer.

I can always hide it from her anyway 

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## wagg (Feb 6, 2014)

Seen something similar up the mountain my way about a year or so ago. They might of broken a leg or something and died off. Then the foxes came.


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## corvid2e1 (Jan 21, 2007)

FishForLife2001 said:


> Anyone know the legality of taking a few bones?


In the case of most wild animals there is no issue but because this is a domestic animal, alive or not, it belongs to the farmer. There is also the issue of trespass since it is on his land. In practice I doubt the farmer feels much ownership over a few chewed up bones, however he will have a problem with you wandering around his field disturbing his livestock so it would be best to ask permission or at the very least wait until the sheep are moved to a different field.


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## Garethgtt (Aug 6, 2012)

I remember speaking to a farmer once who said sheep can literally just drop dead for a multitude of reasons almost like the wind changing, I do a lot of train travel cross country and at certain times of the year you see a lot dead sheep, not hit by trains btw
Here is a link to an interesting post of sheep deaths and multiples
IT would seem in your case the damage seen is probably by multiple scavengers not animals actually killing them, although you never know
https://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=20396.15


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## Garethgtt (Aug 6, 2012)

I was walking one morning in the lake district and saw a farmer loading 3 dead sheep into a trailer, think it would depress the Heck out of me waking up to livestock deaths, well that and sending them all off to slaughter later


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