A large slab of mincemeat found in my garden!

[Orangebadger]

So my dog had been hanging around the back of the garden shed this morning for a lot longer than normal, eventually came back on for breakfast. But straight away back out again, I then noticed a red lump of something that initially I thought was an old shoe. Dog loves smelly shoes so would explain why she was out a lot. Anyway I did not investigate as it's freezing and I am also sick right now. But probably should have checked that it was a shoe and thought what is that doing there, but I did not. Roll on an hour later, DD has taken dog for a walk and when she's come back straight to the garden carrying this red thing when I now realise this is not a shoe... it's about 1kg of mince meat!

WTH chucks that into a neighbours garden?? Why don't you just freeze it and put it out with the next rubbish? So it's one of 2 neighbours at the back of the garden, neighbour 1 would probably struggle to get in the corner as their shed is wedged in there, but not totally impossible. Neighbour 2 could easily just chuck it behind our shed. I think it's neighbour 2, they look like they are doing a massive clear out as all windows and doors are open ( it's 2 degrees!)

So DH thinks we should leave it as a one off, I don't agree. I would quite happily knock on their door and ask/ them, or write a note and pop it though there door.

What to do??

Leave it, it was probably a bizarre accident

I would talk to all local neighbours about it as I would be worried it was poisoned and deliberately put down for other people’s pets to eat. I wouldn’t think twice about knocking on the doors of surrounding neighbours to alert them at the very least. Hopefully one of your neighbours will sheepishly say it’s not poisoned and that they just did something daft. But better safe than sorry.

Are you are sure they’ve thrown it there? That seems I likely to me. Could an animal / pet have taken it from their kitchen and dropped it there? Or could your dog have taken it from them!!

More likely that an animal has nicked it from somewhere (eg someone left mince out to defrost and a cat ran off with it) and cached it, then your dog has discovered it, surely? Are your neighbours the sort to chuck things over the fence? One of our cats once brought home a whole cooked chicken!

It’s very possible it was dropped by a fox after raiding someone’s bin. I wouldn’t rush to assume this was human action!

Yeah, or it could be poisoned bait, either intended for vermin or put out by some sicko.

We have stuff dropped by seagulls, whole carcasses sometimes. I put bones out for the foxes, and bread and mince pies for the birds. Perhaps the dog found a foxes stash , they bury food for later.

I don't think it's an animal. Our garden is very well proofed as our dog is a well known breed for being as escape artist! So we have deep fences and they are high. Of course a cat could get in, but I don't think a cat could have bought this in. It looks like a perfect square of mince meat from a butchers.

You've got me worried about the poison though. I had not thought about that.

Leave it be. If it happens again then maybe consider asking in person but it’s probably a random moment of madness.

I had a cat called Satan who knicked a chicken that was defrosting once.

Could it be a bird? A seagull flew off with a 900g raw food chub I gave to my dog once! Also magpies will steal his raw bones etc if he's too slow with them in the garden.

I would also suspect poison.

Not many seagulls around here.

My neighbour feeds the crows mince - I found raw mince in my garden once, thinking it was brains of something!!
But no, all innocent, just for crows!

We've had weird things appear in our garden despite high walls.

Pretty sure it's birds that nick stuff then drop it because it's too heavy to carry far.

I bet it's a cat - one of mine came home with a set of spare ribs once!

I doubt it would have been stashed there by an animal, or at least if it was you would have seen evidence that it had been part eaten. Could it have been put on a shed roof for the birds and then dropped down the back? I personally would ask the neighbours if they have put it out for the birds / wildlife.

Seagulls are not the only birds!

I guess it might be a cat. Not my cat though who would be far too lazy to do this but also not string enough, this was heavy!

@alibongo5 hmmm I am aware that seagulls are not the only birds!! I was responding to a post. But they are know for being thieves. We would more likely see a Red Kite around here than a seagull.

Could it have been put on a shed roof for the birds and then dropped down the back?

Is it a thing to put raw mince out for the birds?

A fox or a large bird (seagull or crow) are most likely. It would have stayed in one piece if it were thrown in the bin frozen. A fox would have no trouble getting in or out of your garden.

I very much doubt a neighbour would have thrown it into your garden or poisoned beef mince unless you or your dog have really upset them. Why wouldn’t they just throw it in the bin, it’s far less trouble? It would stink and attract vermin into their garden too. Or they are idiots who were trying to feed your dog.

Far more greedy foxes and birds who steal from bins than dog poisoners and beef mince fly tippers…

I would guess red kite stole it from a bin that had been torn open, realised it was too heavy and dropped it. I've seen red kites snatch all sorts

Foxes can manage a lot of the jumps and climbing that cats can do but don’t rule out cats. My friend’s cat dragged home a pot roast once.

I would think if it's an animal why was in at the back of the shed,
Surely it would be more likely to just be in the middle of the garden.

It's the location of where it was initially that made me think the neighbours have chucked it there.

I don't know them so don't think I've upset them. I know it's a rented property so maybe they are moving out and doing a clean up??