He was about 18". The reason I'm certain it's not a heron is that it couldn't stand in the water at the pond (apparently they release pheromones from their legs and feet to attract fish) as the sides are sheer. The pond is completely above ground just over 4'. I'm too far away from the river for otters and, to my knowledge, there's been no mink problems.
I have had some water problems over the last couple of weeks, see-sawing PH, could this cause him to jump out? If so, why aren't any of the others doing the same? It's a possibility that, if this happened, a fox or even a dog or cat could have dragged him away, but I'm assuming I'd see some evidence of this if that was the case - slime, drag marks etc.
Posted on Jul 7, 2006, 3:36 PM from IP address 81.137.224.192