Can you solve our mystery? We have the kind of suet feeder that holds one
square of suet in a green cage, with a lid that flips up. The feeder 
is zip-tied
to the trunk of a tree. When we put a new cake of suet in, we use a small
lock to keep it closed--I don't know what you call them--they're like what you
see at the end of a dog leash to snap onto the dog's collar.

Well, something has been stealing the suet at night.

We put a fresh suet cake out the other day, and our woodpeckers
pecked away one corner of it. When we woke up the next day, the suet
cage was empty, and there was a small pile of suet chips on the ground.

Ditto this morning.

Even if a raccoon could open the lock to remove the suet cake, I doubt
it would close the lid and lock it afterwards, and judging by the pile
of suet dust on the ground, something must be using a paw or teeth
to get the suet out.

Does anyone know what animal will chip or gnaw away an entire
cake of suet in one night? This is getting expensive!

At least the woodpeckers and sapsucker are smart enough to forage
for the suet chips at the base of the tree.


--Pat

Pat Valdata, Elkton, MD | 
"The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards
and carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods.
More than any other thing that pertains to the body
it partakes of the nature of the divine." --Plato