Three days after the killing I found a second victim. I had no reason to perform the autopsy I was planning to do on the first death.

I  discovered the first body as I carried a pail of wood ashes from our kitchen woodburning stove to the compost pile out near the garden. I was surprised by the curled body of a red squirrel. I scanned the snow for marks of a scuffle or blood. None. 

I picked up the rigid rodent and inspected it on all sides for telltale marks of a violent death. None. Had it been sick and just died here? Not likely. My plan was to thaw and skin it to see if I could figure out the cause of death.

Then yesterday morning, less than ten feet from where the squirrel had been found, Nancy reported a headless cottontail rabbit. I knew immediately who the killer was. I booted up and went out to retrieve the dead cottontail. I lifted it out of the slightly melted cradle of snow and given it was not frozen stiff surmised that it had been dead only a few hours.

The head was nowhere to be seen. The thin spine in the neck protruded like a textured straw with no flesh remaining on it. The lower front left leg had been torn and there was some blood smeared on the shoulders.

I carried the cottontail corpse to our basement to thaw. Later, I skinned the soft fur from the body and discovered slashes and bruises on the shoulder and upper back muscles. Clear evidence of gripping talons. 

Now I was able to reconstruct the murder scene. Directly above it stretches a dead limb from  a big red oak. This was the likely perch that the owl flew up to after it killed both animals. Given that we often see or hear barred owls in our woods, I’m deducing that that was the assassin.  

The red squirrel was probably nabbed near our woodshed where they often cavort.  The owl flew up to the snag with its prize and in the act of changing its grip to better decapitate its prey, the owl dropped the squirrel on the path below. Why the owl didn’t retrieve it, I don’t know. But they can be skittish. Perhaps Nancy or I had gone out to our porch, less than 20 steps away from the killed prey, for an armload of firewood to feed the stove for the night and had scared the owl away. 

I have come across decapitated mammals in the past. Once while canoeing I found a headless muskrat on top of a beaver lodge. Another time, I was snowshoeing and spotted a squirrel tail hanging from high in the leafless canopy of the woods. A close look with my binoculars showed it was headless.

In Minnesota, fuel is critical, especially during the winter. Some critters, like amphibians, reptiles, ground squirrels, woodchucks and some insects escape the need to gather calories by hibernating. Others, like raccoons, become dormant. 

The most calorie-rich food is fat. The heads of squirrels and rabbits are not chubby. Instead it is the brain itself that is a powerhouse of fats. Fifty nine percent of the brain is made up of fat and 30% is protein. It also contains necessary Vitamin A and calcium.

Hawks and owls can fairly easily remove the head by grasping the neck and making a quick twist to sever the spine. Then they peck with their sharp, curved tip of the beak to open up the thin-walled skull to access the treasure trove of fat.

There is evidence that humans eat the brains of their quarry or livestock for the same energetic demands. Even today, some Arctic Inuit will remove and eat the brains from harvested seals. 

I admit that I will sometimes turn to sugar, like a donut, for a blast of energy. I cannot remember the source, but it has been said that the consumption of brains is the equivalent of eating a cheesecake and a box of donuts!

Two days later I discovered another headless rabbit behind my little log cabin. Nancy is going to be tickled! Every summer she curses the garden-eating rabbits who whittle away our produce potential.

This corpse provided more clues. Laying next to its hind foot was a regurgitated owl pellet. The tight ovoid-shaped package of undigested bones, feathers and fur was 5/8 of an inch wide and two inches long. 

White and black splashes of guano stained the snow. Perhaps a crow or two visited the corpse before I found it. Or was it the owl? Two feet from where the rabbit head should have been was a lovely print in the snow of the owl’s splayed flight feathers.

Tonight we will give thanks to the owl that provided us the flesh of the rabbits, in a hearty African Rabbit Curry. There are more bunnies around. For the time being they still have their heads on.

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