Just found five bodies in my garden

[TibetanTerra]

NC but regular poster. I just went out to the garden and saw something on the lawn that looked a bit like a hedgehog. At first I thought it was a ball of dead grass, but then saw it covered in bluebottles. Looked closer and it's definitely a dead hedgehog

Thought it was weird, but as I glanced further down the lawn I saw THREE more, perfectly still, and covered in flies.

I assume(d) that possibly it was a little family that had been poisoned, as it looks like they've just dropped dead on their walk across the lawn. But then I found a dead rat, ripped in half with entrails everywhere but the top half intact and it's clearly a youngish rat, not a mouse. The hedgehogs don't look injured, no blood or wounds.

Also found two halves of an eggshell (like stolen from a nest, not the supermarket!) in two completely opposite ends of the garden.

What the actual fuck. What's killed all the wildlife!? I have a cat but she's not really a hunter, ignores hedgehogs and if she did manage a rat she'd just leave it intact and not shred it to bits.

I do have pics but didn't want to upset people, but I can post them.

Any ideas what has been on a murderous rampage in my garden? Nothing like this has ever happened before.

@vanitythynameisnotwoman thanks. I had no idea, gruesome, but better than a dog eating a human corpse. I guess most medicine is also poison. Just a matter of dose.

@ShastaBeast badgers live in cities all over!
I terrified one out of his wits this morning when I was running. The noise he made was like a frightened boar, a sort of loud harrumph!

I hope it's not the Croydon Cat Killer resurfacing again? He did apparently kill wildlife sometimes, too. Maybe the injured side of the hedgehogs is underneath so you can't see it.

Badgers go in for the belly of a hedgehog and leave the outside. It could be rat poison that has killed them although there is a disease that is wiping them out.

As for the egg shell, if it is fairly cleanly opened it may have been a hatched pigeon egg. The adults move them away from the nest and leave them somewhere. If it is damaged with a hole, then something has got in and sucked out the inside. Our woodies leave them in random places, they look as if they have been opened carefully. Squirrels will take eggs but they don't open them neatly and move them, same with corvids.

Our foxes ignore our one hedgehog and he sits still if they go near and sometimes sniff him. My fear is that someone will poison him.

@theconstantinoplegardener The UK Cat Killer never went away, it was just the Police that closed the case, there is a group of people that have taken over SNARL reporting (you can find them on Facebook).

Poisoned rats will go underground before dying, it doesn’t work that fast. Otherwise you’d see dead rats all the time in cities.

My money is still on a Mink. Or maybe a stoat or weasel, but Mink are the most viscous. I reckon it was eating the egg, saw the rat and attacked to eat, and then was disturbed by the hedgehogs so killed them to keep them quiet. They are known to kill anything around while they are feeding.

I found an injured hedgehog and took it to the wildlife sanctuary. It had to be pts. They said that foxes get them by a back leg but they succumb to fly-strike really quickly. But you’d think if it was a fox some would have got away as they can move quite quickly.

if poison, definitely need to talk to your neighbours as hedgehog numbers are crashing and heading towards endangered. They probably have no idea of the risks

Well they've been cleared up as the cat goes out for a few hours at night. I didn't even do it myself and just watched while squirming but it's still not an experience I want to repeat. Shouldn't have done it right before dinner not envy

Interesting you think it's a mink @peakotter. We're right on the coast and I thought they were more river dwelling, so hadn't considered the idea, but possible I suppose?

@SlopesOff Your knowledge of nature is fascinating. I've lived in the 'country' most of my life and am clearly woefully ignorant about what predators could be lurking where!

I'm not even sure what to put in a note to the neighbours. 'One of you bastards has poisoned four lovely hedgehogs' seems a bit aggressive...?

Maybe aggressive is needed, if it’s a cat somebody will probably go and kill the neighbour!