Dead cow on side of the road with bite taken out

[icanfly77]

Up at Mt Glorious today constantly on the lookout for Yowies but no activity

However we did come across this dead calf on the side of the road with a big gash taken out of its behind

Thought it was quite strange as there aren't any farms nearby and where it's lying is a big drop down to the creek below

Took pics here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/7enh7N2y2rGK9fwH9
And here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/UV6y2nSzetJSKtMn9

Probably nothing but couldn't work out what's put the big hole in its bum!

[icanfly77]

We've been looking at the photos again and if you see it's almost as if the tail has been ripped from behind. There are no bite marks there is hair scattered around the body so it must have happened there.
It couldn't have been by a car as it was too far off the road that it would have been thrown and if it was it would have shown damage.
If it was a yowie and it's ripped the tail off to try and grab it to eat then maybe a car came along and it bolted and left the body there
It looked fresh but there was no blood or guts around the body. It's a very clean break of the tail off

[icanfly77]

Forgot to add and you can't edit posts here! I was heavy on the lookout today for anything because we were close to bellbird Grove where the two were just spotted at Easter!

[aaq]

Hi,

I took a walk around that area a couple of weeks back but didn't manage to make any interesting observations.

The default answer would be "wild dogs" but a few points on that:
-dogs DEFINITELY bite tails, but generally bite them, don't rip them completely off. I don't believe they would have the weight/strength.
-dogs would typically bite in other places around the animal, ie face/legs/shoulders and there would be evidence of this

It's possible the tail was docked and the back end and tail has been chewed out by dogs. They will certainly break tail bones in their Jaws but I don't believe they could rip it off. I'm surprised there are no other bite marks that would indicate dogs

Interesting photos!

[themanfromglad]

Since you are looking at the stomach contents, the stomach area appears to have been ripped open and not the "bum".

[icanfly77]

Since you are looking at the stomach contents, the stomach area appears to have been ripped open and not the "bum".

Really the stomach is not underneath the cow? The backend behind the tail should be the anus right? And the contents shown is manure where the cow either crapped itself when passing or it came out when the tail was ripped

It still sits weird in my book and don't really think it would be dogs as other has said they wouldn't have the strength