Intestines on the Road? (Note: Photo attached)

[mbaldw]

Hi folks,

I apologise if anyone is squeamish, but I'm hoping someone might be able to shed some light on the below. Earlier this week I came across a small pile of intestines in the middle of a country lane near Launceston (Cornwall) and I have no idea how they got there. Here's what I do know:

* They appeared overnight and were no more than 12 hours old when I found them (I'd been along the lane the previous evening)

* There was no sign of a carcass anywhere. There had been a dead Mole on the road the previous day, but this was very much in tact.

* There was no obvious trauma/damage to the tissue upon cursory inspection (unfortunately I didn't have any gloves with me, or I'd have inspected more closely) and little leakage.

* The pile was in the middle of the lane, bordered by pasture fields (containing sheep).

The photo below isn't great (all I had on me at the time was a mobile phone), but it gives an idea of scale.

Does anyone have any idea what might done this? I know that it will be almost impossible to tell what species the organs came from, but are any predators known for their penchant of eviscerating their prey and ditching the intestines?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Marc.

[ellen h]

Only thing that makes sense is it came from the Mole.Could the carcase have been runover by a car and that caused the "guts" to spill from the body,then perhaps a passing predator picked up the body leaving the viscera behind.
If you look at the photo there appears to be a damp patch surrounding it,may be from the remains before it was taken??
ellen

[mbaldw]

Hi ellen,

thanks for your response. I can be certain that the intestines didn't come from the Mole that was run over the day before - I examined it thoroughly and it was very much in tact. Nonetheless, they could well have been from another Mole (or small mammal) run over on the Sunday night/Monday morning and, as you say, the carcass was picked up by a predator leaving the "guts".

Cheers,
Marc.