Maybe Weasels Aren't Vampires

     Obviously, the photo above shows a grouse, not a weasel.   A grouse is a common, chicken-like bird that lives in the forests around here.  The other day we let Kona outside to get some sunshine.  These days poor Kona can hardly walk, and it is sad when we see her try to hobble around.  Anyway, after being out for a while,  I saw her limp around the corner of the house carrying something in her mouth.  

    I went out to investigate and discovered that it was a dead grouse.  I knew that Kona hadn’t killed it, but had just smelled it and picked it up.  I had her drop it and I picked the grouse up.  It hadn’t been dead long, its feathers were still smooth, patterned, and beautiful.  I couldn’t figure out why it was dead, and wondered if it had slammed into a window. 

    Then I saw the reason;  it had a small open wound below its head on its neck.   

    “Awh,”  I thought, “A weasel killed it and sucked its blood.”

    Why would I think such a thing?  Well, I’ll tell you”

    A decade or so ago, we had some chickens.  We enjoyed watching them wandering around in the yard and scratching the grass looking for insects.  The chickens provided us with lots of eggs and chicks, when we didn’t see where they hid their eggs.  It was all good.

    Then one morning, I went into the henhouse and was horrified to see five chicken corpses.  I couldn’t figure out what had happened to them.  Their bodies weren’t mangled or eaten.  It was a puzzled.  Then I discovered the small open wounds on all of their necks, I figured some vampire-like animals had killed them and sucked their blood.  Then in talking to others about the incident, I was told it sounded like our chickens were killed by a weasel.

    Ever since then I have believed that weasels were vampires, but this morning, in doing some research, I discovered that that was not the case, and weasels don’t suck blood.   I guess it is not uncommon for weasels to kill a lot of chickens at a time and not eat them.  When weasels get into a chicken house, the chickens all freak out and flutter and fly about.  Their wild activity sends the weasel into a frenzy, causing them to go into a killing spree.  Then they try to hide their victims, thinking they will return later to eat them.

    I guess Kona found a grouse corpse that a weasel had hidden. 

    I threw the corpse into the woods, and now I wish I would have taken a photo of the small wound so I could see it.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca