Who Killed Peter Rabbit?

This is a true story of the mysterious death of a friendly wild rabbit that liked to visit my backyard in the summer mornings.

If you follow my posts you know I love my animals either living inside the house or in the wild. I have two inside cats and numerous wildlife....birds, a red squirrel, a skunk, raccoon, fox and once a friendly rabbit that visited my back deck. I called him Peter Rabbit.

If you look to the bottom right of the photo of Strange Cat there is a small fluffy ball of fur...sadly, all that’s left of Peter Rabbit.

Strange Cat



The First Suspect- At first I thought that was a guilty look and defiant stanch on Strange Cat, a stray who hung around the property at the time of Peter Rabbit’s death.

As the evidence unfolded, I am quite sure this cat was not the quilty party. There are no marks or blood stains on his face or neck. Usually a rabbit could get in a few bites or scratches in before it died.

Although a cat is capable of killing a rabbit, I don’t think Strange Cat killed my dear Peter Rabbit by the way he was butchered.

The cat was drawn to the scene by the smell of blood and the shrieking of the ravens as they devoured Peter Rabbit’s remains.

It is still a mystery who killed the friendly Peter Rabbit but there are a couple suspects.

Peter Rabbit in his brown fur for the summer. His fur turns white in the winter. The changing color of the fur in different seasons is nature’s way to camouflage the rabbit to help protect him from predators.

Peter Rabbit


_{Canon EOS Rebel T6
F/8 1/100 200mm ISO 200}


He had become quite tame and stayed out on the open lawn, near the house, too much. This made him prey for other animals.

Most rabbits came on the property to nibble on fresh grass or weeds on the lawn. They would stay close to the edge of the lawn and would hop into the cover of the nearby trees when startled.

My last photo of Peter Rabbit waiting by the back step. He would wait there in early mornings and I would give him a small helping of dry cat food.

_{Canon EOS Rebel T6
F/6.5 1/200 21mm ISO 100}

“I don’t see Peter Rabbit this morning,” I said to my hubby.

Stepping out the back door to look around for him, I could smell the most horrible scent in the air. I knew something had been killed.

With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I yelled to hubby. He was already outside and walking towards the blood smell.

There he saw the dead Peter Rabbit lying on the ground ripped open from end to end.

If Strange Cat hadn’t killed him who or what did?

I eliminated coyotes and foxes as suspects. Not that they wouldn’t like a rabbit for a meal. They like to eat rabbit but they take their prey and rarely leave any evidence.

I thought of the birds of prey:

I often see eagles circling around high up in the sky but I hadn’t seen an eagle come that close to the house and they have the strong talons to take their prey.

There are owls here but they hunt at night and take their prey with them.

The Main Suspect: Hawks hunt during the day. They may leave behind a carcass. It is usually left whole and you will find tufts of fur or pieces of skin and fur scattered around the carcass. Hawk do not like to eat fur, skin, or bones.

The ravens were shrieking loudly and eating any remaining parts of Peter Rabbit until all that was left was the small ball of fur in the first photo.

It was a vicious attack and the smell of death lingered in the air for days.

Hubby and I had both become fond of the little rabbit and were saddened to lose him.

Like many other animal mysteries, Who Killed Peter Rabbit may never be proven beyond a doubt.

---

#thealliance