A kitten, really. It appeared to be about 3-4 months old. There are some stray dogs that roam around my neighborhood and I figured it was one of those dogs that had killed it. My suspicions were reinforced by the tears and bite marks on the abdomen on the body. After lying in humidity and heat, on odor that I can't even describe was carried on the few breezes that graced us on this hot, August afternoon.
I was first alerted to it's presence by the smell, the smell was strong despite the body only being there for no more than 24 hours. The first thing I did was grab a stick in order to flip the body over. I wanted to determine what killed it; I have 2 cats and I wanted to make sure there wasn't some little shit with a BB gun shooting pets. Gasses from the decomposition of the intestines combined with unrelieved waste had built up in the abdominal cavity. Upon poking the corpse, these gasses were released with a subtle, wet hiss.
The smell infiltrated my nostrils without mercy, and I was in quick retreat. The horrendous miasma sent me away coughing and swearing, my eyes watering.
The only way I could get the corpse out of my yard was to use a shovel and toss the corpse into an adjacent field. Upon casting the corpse into the air with the shovel, the smell hit back 10-fold; I suspect the impact with the ground caused more death-gasses to escape. The smell of death carried on the wind, quickly contrasted by the smell of grass and flowers.
Those 2 dogs are still roaming about, possibly killing more cats, and I worry my cats are next. I've decided that if they harass my cats, it's their life.
I was first alerted to it's presence by the smell, the smell was strong despite the body only being there for no more than 24 hours. The first thing I did was grab a stick in order to flip the body over. I wanted to determine what killed it; I have 2 cats and I wanted to make sure there wasn't some little shit with a BB gun shooting pets. Gasses from the decomposition of the intestines combined with unrelieved waste had built up in the abdominal cavity. Upon poking the corpse, these gasses were released with a subtle, wet hiss.
The smell infiltrated my nostrils without mercy, and I was in quick retreat. The horrendous miasma sent me away coughing and swearing, my eyes watering.
The only way I could get the corpse out of my yard was to use a shovel and toss the corpse into an adjacent field. Upon casting the corpse into the air with the shovel, the smell hit back 10-fold; I suspect the impact with the ground caused more death-gasses to escape. The smell of death carried on the wind, quickly contrasted by the smell of grass and flowers.
Those 2 dogs are still roaming about, possibly killing more cats, and I worry my cats are next. I've decided that if they harass my cats, it's their life.
