I came home to something unusual today. There was a decapitated goldfish,
about the size of my hand, laying on the bank of the pond, with the head
nearby, both underneath the bird netting I'd placed over the pond to keep
out leaves. It's the typical black netting, about 1 inch squares, that I've
used for years. The netting will get weighted down with leaves and will rest
on/near the pond's surface until I shake them off and pull it back taut
above the water's surface.

The head looked cleaning severed. The body wasn't in too bad shape, a few
scales missing but I didn't notice any puncture marks on it before I placed
it in it's final resting place, the mulch pile.

I'm thinking GBH. Got frustrated that it couldn't pull the fish through the
netting and flew off, though I would have expected there to be more damage
to the fishes body. Maybe got tangled in the netting and took off? Maybe it
was spooked in my driving up and flew off before it had much time to make a
meal out of it's kill.

Any other ideas from the group?

This is a first in my 10 years of ponding.

TIA

JB