YEAR: 2002

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: 1

STATE: California

COUNTY: Nevada County

LOCATION DETAILS: along deer creek

NEAREST TOWN: Nevada City

NEAREST ROAD: Slate Creek Road

OBSERVED: A neighbor's chicken coop was raided. I keep birds also so I was curious how I may reinforce my cage to avoid the same situation. I investigated. What struck me immediatly was the strength necessary to "bend and compress" the wire used in my neighbor's coop. There is no way with my bare hands could I bend and compress the wire of this guage. I collected hair samples.

No cat could have done this. A bear would have taken a much more destructive entry.

OTHER WITNESSES: son observed the aquisition of samples

OTHER STORIES: only from the BFRO site. years ago.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: night

ENVIRONMENT: creek bottom/sparsely populated

Follow-up investigation report:

I talked with the witness by phone. The following can be added to the report:
--All the neighbors in the area have been reporting their chickens being stolen.
--Wire was rolled down and compressed, like something a human would do.
--Remains of the chickens are not found, the whole chicken is taken.
--No prints were noted.
--Hair is on its way to me for analysis. Results will be posted once it is known what the hair is.

Follow-up, hair appears to be from a mountain lion. Analysis conducted by Alton Higgins.