Viperacide?

hi everyone,

i visited Stroud Town Cemetery after work today. since conds were cool with light drizzle i wasnt expecting to see much in the way of adder or viv. so i thought id check a couple of tins for slow worms instead.
however wandering through the long grass i looked down and sadly, beside a grave, i spotted the remains of a dead male adder all chopped up into pieces;











bearing in mind this small, isolated (by brick walling, roads and housing) urban site is frequented by many a residential dog walker etc and that viperaphobia remains a threat do you think this fatality is suspicious?
i would have thought a predator would have eaten at least some of the snake and (i wouldnt know about herps) but other sick animals often retire to their refuges to die (in one piece) dont they?
other areas of the cemetery have been strimmed but i wouldnt have thought an accidental killing would have resulted in such a degree of dismemberment.

do you want this sighting recorded Chris? assuming that this wasnt the last survivor at this site then this corpse at least proves continued adder prescence.

ben

There looks to be some puncture marks in the images and although it is very hard to say what may have caused it's demise it could have been attacked by any number of things including foxes, cats, birds etc.. The fact it is in pieces might just as easily be that something has tried to eat it post-mortem. I think it would be to prudent to jump to any conclusion based on this simple/single evidence. Just keep your eyes out for anything else that may occur on that site. Could be natural causes just as easily as anthropogenic. 

Unfortunately, it is often not possible to identify cause of death in all but the freshest of corpses. It might well be vipericide but equally it could have been chewed. Thanks for submitting the record Ben, even dead animals count towardds the probability of a live population.

All the best

Chris

its said to see dead reptiles but the lizards look wonderful

You should ring the number and report the sh*te sign Ben