Adrian, you talked about your local BF swapping vocalizations with dogs in the area, even to the point that the BF ventured to the edge of some of the resident's property. You specifically mentioned that, at these particular residences, the dogs were fenced in and/or secured in some manner. Do the BF not also visit residences where the dogs are free to roam, or do they avoid those particular areas? Also, do you have many reports of dogs going missing or being killed and mutilated?
In our area of the rural Southeast US, we have a large number of free roaming dogs that go missing or are found killed and/or mutilated. Obviously the great majority of these ocurrances are due to factors other than BF, however, there are a few that we believe are directly attributable to BF. One thing that we've noticed is that dogs that are scared of BF and avoid contact with them survive a lot longer than dogs that bark at and/or challenge BF or that pay no heed to BF.
We have even received and/or investigated reports of fenced or chained dogs being carried away by BF. I investigated one early this spring where a woman said her rottweiler was barking like crazy towards the woods behind her home early one morning. The dog was chained to its doghouse. She was looking out the kitchen window at it to see what was going on, and she said a "bear" walked out of the woods, grabbed her dog, twisted its head to break its neck, and then carried it back into the woods in its arms. She said that when it came to the end of the chain, the "bear" never broke stride and dragged the doghouse for a few feet till a swivel link in the chain popped.
The incident happened on a Thursday morning and I heard about it on Friday and investigated it Saturday. Amazingly, we found the dog's body about 150 yards back in the woods next to a large animal trail. It was intact except the belly had been torn open and the internal organs removed and, at the least, the heart and liver were missing. One of the back legs appeared to be broken and I couldn't tell for sure if the neck was broken.
We have had two dogs disappear in the last year in my immediate neighborhood that we believe were due to BF. I have a German Shepherd/Alaskan Malamute cross that accompanies me on a lot of outings and he's our BF proximity warning system. He'll alert us to the close proximity of BF. If we hear movement or suspect the presence of BF in the woods close by, we can listen to and look at my dog and know if its probably BF or not. He's anything but brave when BF is concerned. He starts whining and will run back to the truck, if we're away from the house, or will hide under the front porch if we're at home. At any rate, I'm very interested in hearing more about the BF/dog encounters in your area.
Posted on Jul 18, 2002, 8:34 AM from IP address 209.192.3.26