Mitulove wrote:
Hello,

I live on an estate on which the owner's gardener has taken to hanging
dead squirrels and magpies in trees and next to the scarecrow in the
veg patch. My assumption is that this is to deter other squirrels and
magpies, but does that actually work? I can deal with a certain level
of morbidity, but I would hate for the children who come visit to be
upset at the dead animals if it's a pointless endeavor. And if
anything, I would have thought that the carcasses would attract more
vermin..

Can anybody share some perspective on this issue?

Many thanks!

The gamekeeper's gibbet is an old old custom. I think it was simply to
show the employer that the keeper was earning his pay and his cottage by
killing anything non-game that moved. I've no direct knowledge of the
practice, but hardly any animals seem to recognize corpses of their own
species, so I can't think it would do much in the way of deterrence. So,
unless there's a problem with chimpanzees or elephants...but, speaking
in a personal capacity, I'd rather not be in the same parish as an
elephant with a grievance, so it wouldn't work even with them.

--
Mike.