What's massacred my koi?

[goodnhot]

Hello wildlife lovers,

Have just stumbled across WAB & read a couple of old posts re: my problem.. Im very very upset as I raised my koi from dinky little fry. When I went into the garden this morning I found three of them scattered about the pond in various states of desecration. My 1st thought was of a heron, but most opinion seems to suggest they take their prey away whole, second is a cat.. altho I dont see how it could hook them out of a pond apx 2 1/2 ft deep. Incidentally the only surviving koi has damage to both sides of his body, in the form of what look like scratches, hopefully not life threatening! Finally I wonder could an otter be the culprit?
We live apx 3/4 mile from waveney river in ipswich, suffolk so I imagine it could be possible? The bodies were not completly eaten, the heads & tails were off & scales all around.
There was no sprint anywhere around so no clues there either. I would really appreciate any advice on what peoples opinions are.
Ive just tried to upload the photos but they are too large for WAB so if you want to see them I will have to PM you a copy. (sorry bout that).
Many Thanks
GNH

[Stinky Bob]

Hi and Welcome to WAB.
This happened to my neighbour a couple of years ago, my neighbours father was a gamekeeper and he said it was an otter. In my neighbours case the fish (and there were a good few) had had their bellies ripped out and just left. The ex game keeper said it was a dog otter passing through.

[Jonners]

I wonder whether it might have been caused by a mink. I'm sure someone with experience of them will come along with a clearer opinion.

But in the meantime goodnhot, welcome to WAB. I hope you find it very helpful and informative

[bigdave60dog]

Could be cats or otter but the balance of probability says that it would be a mink.
They are everywhere after being set free from fur farms by well meaning people of very low intellect they have found an unexploited niche with no known predators and have bred and bred. They have all but wiped out our lovely little water voles and are making bad headway into our moorhen and coot nesting populations.
They do damage as you describe. They kill out of instinct rather than need so leave dead and mutilated victims lying around, they attack day and night
, they can swim well and catch fish underwater and are strong enough to deal with quite large fish.
Unless you live on an isolated island where there are no mink this damage is much more likely to be caused by mink than anything else.
Dave

[epops]

sound like mink they emptied our pond of really big koi they even had the littler ones i know for deffo they were mink cause i saw one one morning needless to say they did'nt last long after that theres now 2 ex mink in essex

[goodnhot]

Thanks SB, sounds alot like it, appreciate your reply.
Regards
Tania

[goodnhot]

Hi Jonners,
Thankyou for your rply Im heartened to find that there are some lovely people out there who are happy to help & offer advice. Appreciate the thought.
Tania

[goodnhot]

Hi BigDave,

Yes I read quite a bit yesterday about the mink problem in my quest for answers, sadly I may have to accept that we may never have the answer, but am hopeful I can at least preserve my last koi & will now have to find him a couple of friends, when I sort the punctured pond dilemma out!
When it rains!!!
Thankyou for thoughts & advioce tho'.
Tania

[goodnhot]

Hi Epops,

Thanks for reply I totally sympathise!! if the airgun was at hand we would have been less 1 pond raider too, whatever it may have been.
This morning when I checked the pond I found it 3/4 empty of water, so think the attack must have damaged the liner & overnite it emptied out leaving only 5' at bottom. Just enough to keep carrot (the fish) alive, but probably wrote the pump off! I may have to send carrot to a friends while I figure whats going on here.
Anyway thanx for taking time to offer advice, all the best.
Tania

[Mark_b]

Originally Posted by bigdave60dog

They have all but wiped out our lovely little water voles and are making bad headway into our moorhen and coot nesting populations.

I posted in another topic about mink, I think it is relevent here as well ...

I think the mink gets a lot of bad press and in some respects it isn’t deserved. Everything that a mink kills could well of been a meal for any other animal, in that respect it is bad as its competing and in some instances out competing our native species. But it shouldn’t be considered an evil killer, as it is no different from our other mustilid species.

The problem being, any attempts to remove mink from an area are in some ways hopeless, as eradication is impossible, especially on a nationwide scale. They are on practically every water course in the UK. We will never become any more ‘over run’ with them as we are now as every population has its limit, trying to lower numbers seems like a fruitless task.

I will try to find out more details but I was speaking to someone who has just finished a PhD on watervoles and she was decribing that there are several areas in the UK where watervoles and mink actually live in relative harmony. They are not wiping them out, but obviously they are a food source. Mink are a problem, they are having an effect on our native wildlife and it would be better if they were not here, but they are not the main cause of declines, habitat loss and fragmentation over the past centruy has done that.