Fox kills Kune piglet

[Tim McLoughlin]

Hi

As a newbie, I just thought I'd share a cautionary tale (no pun intended). Our 12 week old piglet sow was killed and dragged out of her pen by a fox on Monday morning. This was the first night her and her brother and spent in their full enclosure which was pig-proof though not fox proof. She was a runt and very wee. It happened very quickly and after the initial screams she simply vanished.

I thought I'd share this as foxes are getting braver and bigger, so may be able to wrestle larger animals than they would normally.

Her brother is about her size + 3/4 so is too big in the fox eyes.

Many thanks to all the correspondants on this site which we've found really helpful.

Kind regards,

Tim & Chloe

[biddydog]

A cautionary tale indeed. We always dreaded the appearance of Mr Fox when our KKs were little. We used a broody coop hen run to protect the opening and let them have access outside at the same time.

[Tim McLoughlin]

Indeed, I wish we had now. Thanks for the reply.

[simon]

I think this is really unusual. I've not heard of it happening before.
It must have been a very small weaner and a particularly hungry fox.

[Tim McLoughlin]

I think this is really unusual. I've not heard of it happening before.
It must have been a very small weaner and a particularly hungry fox.

Yes, we have chickens too which also attract foxes.

The woods at the back of us are teeming with foxes and at night you can sometimes hear them barking. The piglet was very friendly and would have approached a curious fox. She was a runt and small even at that. The fox took her the first night of me removing the sheep hurdles from around the ark so he'd already worked out that although he couldn't have dragged her out with the hurdles in place, he could drag her under the stock fencing. Not pleasant.

Thanks Simon for the reply, all the very best.

[HappyHippy]

How awful for you I've always believed that the smell of pigs kept foxes away (or masks the smell of chickens, thus offering some protection) but your sad story completely disproves that theory.
Thanks for sharing as it's definitely worth knowing that foxes can and will take piglets, hopefully it'll not visit you again.

[wendy scu]

i have lost young piglets to foxes on more than one occassion. never an older one like this though

[robnock]

My KK piglets are about 19 weeks old and weighed just over 12kg each a few weeks ago. I don't know if that is small, normal or large for that age but I am still locking them up at night to protect them from Mr (or Mrs) Fox. Wondering if I need to any more. They don't look that big compared to a fox but....

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Bob

[The Rushbury Pig]

Hi Bob,

I think your piglets would be absolutely fine now. It is usually very young, small or weak piglets that are taken. I suspect they would fight a fox off quite admirably now if challenged !!!

[BrendonDut]

Sorry to hear about that Tim. Not unheard of, sadly, though.