The Enigma Of The Slain Koi.

[BIAD]

Update:
Due to some reasons regarding a temporary loss of a house key to my son and his girlfriend's (Jill)
home as they are currently vacationing the USA, I had the opportunity to further the information from
my son's girlfriend's mother about the mass killings of the Koi mentioned above.

Her story:
At 8.30am on a Monday, 'Jill's' mother switched on her washing-machine and then took a grandchild
to a nearby school and then returned back to her house. I was initially told that she had looked out of
a window at 10.30am, but I now know it was around 9.30am when she actually gathered the washed
laundry and went outside to hang the items on a cord that can be seen in the image above.

As she neared the washing-line, she saw the largest and oldest of her fish -almost two feet long, flopping
weakly next to the wall that surrounds the pond. Picking the heavy Kio up with both hands, she hoped to
revive it by placing back in the pond and that was when she saw bite-marks in its flanks and then noticed
the carnage strewn around the grass around her and on the small wooden decking behind the pond next
to the two fences.

Altogether, there were eight fish that ranged from two feet long to ten inches long and all of them were
dead. Describing the scene, Jill's mother said that whatever had attacked the fish had canine teeth and
she estimated the bite-width was about 2-1/2 inches wide. Most of the flexh of them had been eaten
away and even one Koi that had dropped beneath the planks of the decking even bore the marks of
being assaulted.

Looking into the empty pond, she also noted the oldest Koi had died.
.....................................

I have asked passing dog-walkers for their opinions and one of them -a man who enjoys watching
wildlife in the nearby river, strongly suggests it may have to do with a large dog-otter and its mate
that have taken up residence on the waterway.

He also reported that he'd seen a couple of mink basking on the opposite bank not far from where
the attack took place, but the original reason why my son's girlfriend's mother thought the culprits
might be mink is because around quarter-of-a-mile up river of the estate, their neighbours have what
the English call 'allotments'. These rented pieces of land are used to grow vegetables and some
often keep poultry on the plots.


The parcels of land called allotments.

One neighbour witnessed a 'long black thing' skulking around near where the allotments back onto
the river and then something sneaked onto the sectioned-off alltoments during the night and killed
a lot of chickens.
.....................................

Oddly enough, the mother said that her initial thought was an otter!