OK - Here is a Mystery....Animal attack on Son's Pick up Truck

[brin]

This morning ..still dark...my son, who lives next door ( we are in the country ) called and asked me to come over and look at something...I went right over...He kept his old Dodge Dakota pick up when he bought his new one and he keeps the old Dakota in a separate open bay in a building adjacent to his house..

He got in the truck this AM to take it to work for a change...and he had no steering...power steering gone..so he looked and here is what both of us found...

Whatever it was must have been chasing something that hid or tried to hide up in the engine compartment of his truck...This thing had ripped out all of the material in the left wheel well that separates that from the engine compartment...that heavy stiff material was scattered all about with 3 inch bites taken out of it....3 inch wide paw prints everywhere on his truck...hood, bumpers , bed of truck, sides of truck and it had either bit into or clawed one of the power steering hoses...and all the fluid leaked out...

We are at a loss as to what it was...Seems to us the paw print of 3 in + wide is to wide for a opossum, raccoon or coyote, fox ....we have not ever seen Bears around here so we are thinking Bobcat....and he must have been chasing something..No sign of blood ...but clear scratches in the concrete floor and on the side of his truck...Must have been a heck of a fight...

Any ideas... ? We are about 50 mile East of Atlanta...

 

[k0ua]

Chupacabra..

James K0UA

 

[texasjohn]

photo of paw print?
let's assume a rabbit ran behind wheel well...I could see a coyote or bobcat being focused on getting to it resulting in damage you report.
:anyone:

 

[rekees4300]

Chupacabra..

James K0UA

Ditto ... Georgia is crawling with them!

 

[brin]

Chupacabra..

James K0UA

Ditto ... Georgia is crawling with them!

I was hoping you would come down here and help us take out the rest of the Chupacabras. :laughing:

Chupacabra. Oh yeah....I thought we had shot them all...I guess we missed one...

photo of paw print?
let's assume a rabbit ran behind wheel well...I could see a coyote or bobcat being focused on getting to it resulting in damage you report.
:anyone:

That's what we were thinking...but the paw prints were bigger than a coyote ...so I am leaning toward the bobcat...I would have taken a picture but it was dark...28 deg. and very faint prints...with the flash...I am sure it would not have come out...

 

[Lou66]

sound likes rats, a large cat or bobcat.. Lou

 

[Ted Summey]

I was thinking coyote but that would be a really big coyote. I measured the paws one my mounted coyote - she was a smaller one and the paws measured 1 3/8". So a coyote would have to be over double this one's size. It weighed around 35 pounds. I'd be more inclined to think it was some other canine. 3" would be very small for a bear on its own.

Edit: hide your wives, girlfriends and children if it is a Chupacabra. Just don't let them meet up with each other!

 

[tractchores]

Could it have been a domestic dog? if it's a bear or a dog you should have seen claw marks in the footprints, if it was a bobcat you would not have seen claw marks. Quite the mystery!

 

[brin]

Could it have been a domestic dog? if it's a bear or a dog you should have seen claw marks in the footprints, if it was a bobcat you would not have seen claw marks. Quite the mystery!

The claw marks are on the concrete and side of the truck...like there was one heck of a fight and there was a lot of swatting and swinging going on...Like I said the paw prints were to faint to photograph and there were no claw marks along with the paw prints....I know what you mean about felines..they don't walk around with their claw bared...

 

[texasjohn]

A medium sized bobcat was harvested from my place about a year ago. Didn't measure, but pad prints themselves would certainly have been 3 inches across. Full paw more like 5 inches, my guess.

Cannine claws do nor retract are blunt, feline claws retract, are sharp and can kinda reach behind things.

An idea...look for scratches BEHIND stuff...a cat tries to reach in to get stuff. A dog paws and scratches from the outside.Narrow cuts would indicate sharp claws, wider would be cannine. If there are scratches on the ground, likely cannine...a cat would retract most of the time except in actual combat/prey catch mode.