Cryptomundo » Bizarre Animal Carcass Draws International Media Attention

Bizarre Animal Carcass Draws International Media Attention

Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 17th, 2006

Portland, Maine’s television station WCSH-TV, Channel 6, did a balanced, upbeat report on the media frenzy. They ended their report by showing footage of their reporter scrolling through the online “Maine Beast” blogs at Cryptomundo.

Bizarre Animal Carcass Draws International Media Attention to Turner

Web Editor: Chris Facchini, Reporter
Created: 8/17/2006 5:11:52 PM
Updated: 8/17/2006 5:15:39 PM

Media from Maine to Germany to Madagascar have reported on the dead animal carcass that one expert says is likely nothing more than a feral dog.

The Town of Turner is right in the middle of a media feeding frenzy. It’s all thanks to a strange looking animal that many newspapers, tv stations, cable networks, and websites have dubbed “the Maine Mutant”, “Mystery Beast, or the killer hybrid mutant creature.”

Michelle O’Donnell and her neighbors found the bizarre looking animal carcass and took pictures of it last week. “it’s been phenomenal, the phone calls, the emails, radio stations. I’ve given so many phone interviews all over the country, Seattle Washington, Santa Barbara California, Chicago, Boston, Vermont, Maryland, DC. It’s been crazy.”

A Turner restaurant even decided to capitalize on the publicity by offering creature burgers.

But the hype may not last much longer. Nationally renown Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman says the mystery creature is most likely a feral dog. Coleman took DNA samples from the animal carcass for testing, but says he is confident the tests will show the creature is a dog and not some weird hybrid species.

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Photograph by Michelle O’Donnell. Used by permission.

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Photograph by Michelle O’Donnell. Used by permission.

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Photograph by Michelle O’Donnell. Used by permission.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 17th, 2006 at 5:59 pm and is filed under Breaking News, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoology, Media Appearances, Pop Culture. You can follow responses via our RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is not allowed.

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22 Responses to “Bizarre Animal Carcass Draws International Media Attention”

tdrossman responds: August 17th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
I have never even heard the word cryptozoology before! Heard about the find in Maine and went on a web search and found you. I have now been sucked in and can’t stop reading about this stuff. So thank you! You have a new groupie.
the_rick responds: August 17th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
Reports claim this thing has taken down other “tough” breeds of dogs. The first thing I think of when I see it is the mix of a wild wolf or coyote and someone’s pet pit bull which was “set free.” Not much of a mystery, but dangerous in it’s own right.
greywolf responds: August 17th, 2006 at 7:12 pm
Well Loren now you did it. This was covered all over the place. It was in my paper, on CNN, on Boing Boing blog. OK, now we can let the critter rest.
Xeno2814 responds: August 17th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Interesting look to the animal, that’s for sure. And may I just say THIS is how a cryptozoology case should be handled. A true expert brought in without a lot of showboating, DNA samples retrieved if possible, and the interviewing of witnesses. NOT tramping around in the woods, seeing ’something’ and then leaving town the next day without further investigation.
Oh, and welcome to all the new people brought here by the news!
youcantryreachingme responds: August 17th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
It’s almost funny.

When cryptozoology doesn’t have a body (see for example the Tasmanian tiger threads on Cryptomundo), no-one is happy with the verdict.

Now that we do have a body, no officials bothered to investigate it until Loren went over there himself to take a look!

tdrossman (1) - welcome to the mind-bending world of cryptozoology!

Chris.
Scarfe responds: August 17th, 2006 at 8:19 pm
This is an odd sort of story suddenly to break over the global mainstream news network. For a carcass, I don’t think it looks that strange. It is obviously come kind of dog and not too uncommon from a number of domesticated breeds; it’s hardly the “evil mutant” that witnesses described. The “Chupacabra” coyotes with mange were more “weird” looking, and I think coverage of them was only a matter of local news in Texas in the bigger picture.
shovethenos responds: August 17th, 2006 at 10:45 pm
I think those mangy coyotes were international news too, because of the claims that they were dead “chupacabras”.

Loren, it might make sense to discuss the DNA tests. Will the lab be able to determine whether the animal was part coyote or wolf? Will they be able to tell you any of the dog breeds that went into the mix?
brineblank responds: August 17th, 2006 at 10:56 pm
How about this….it is a tasmanian tiger hybrid that was attacked by a chupacabra while fleeing from Biscardi who was in the area because of a transplanted Johor Hominid…how is that for sensationalism???
MK2_Bigfoot responds: August 17th, 2006 at 11:03 pm
wow must of been a slow news day or something…at least Loren and cryptomundo got some much deserved good publicity out of it!
otrian responds: August 17th, 2006 at 11:51 pm
Well, wouldn’t it’s muttly mother be proud? Her little creature getting all this attention?!

Amazing how what looks to me like an unfortunate heinz 57 can cause such a fuss.
Pvolitans responds: August 17th, 2006 at 11:52 pm
Kudos to Loren for his prompt fieldwork and matter-of-fact reporting of the incident. I find it rather disdainful though that the media sensationalizes the obviously canid carcass (and I don’t see how this could have been interpreted to have been a goat-dog hybrid) by giving it titles such as ‘mutant’ and ‘killer’.

Of course we’d understand that a title such as ‘Furry Animal Suspecting of Attacking Local Pets Now Roadkill’ would hardly do for a marketable title, but I don’t see how it is a ‘mutant’ as it appears to have perfectly formed canid features within the acceptable deviations of what defines a canid. A short muzzle should hardly raise an eyebrow. Ever seen a Pekingese? It’s still very much a dog by any means. And if one were to be a real stickler for it, dogs are by virtue, mutants of a wolf-like ancestor.

Calling it a ‘killer’ is akin to being charged guilty until proven innocent. How do we know it was not itself the victim/prey of the real killer? How do we know that it was the pet-killer? Were remains of domestic cats, rabbits or gerbils extracted from its stomach contents? Was the dentition matched to the scars of its supposed victims? (yes, for let us hope that the skull will be recovered soon).

I was also amazed by how an interviewed individual was certain that the canid was killed by a passing vehicle while chasing a cat. Was he/she present at the scene and actually witnessed the canid chasing a cat? There seems to be plenty of sequential and logical loopholes here, not to mention an overdose of hype and unnecessary hysteria. Indicting the canid for cases of missing / injured pets seems very much like a witch hunt to me.

Speculation and sensationalism are the last things we’d want for cryptozoology. In any case, I believe most of us here are looking forward to more matter-of-fact reporting and the eventual DNA analysis.
lost stray responds: August 18th, 2006 at 12:01 am
This animal does have the features of an Akita and also a wolf. But my question is, are there others out there? It is highly rare that there would only be one born. Even wolves give birth to, I believe an average of 4 pups. What honestly haunts me is its facial features. I believe if I meet up with that animal in the woods I’d be up the closest tree I could haul ass too.
hybrid?? responds: August 18th, 2006 at 12:27 am
This is no wolf or wolf hybrid, or coydog- the snout is too small and the legs are too short. This may be a chow mix, but even chows have longer snouts than this. This possible dog is very odd- its snout is very very short and its jaw and neck area is very short and shaped very differently for a dog of any kind. Its possible that it is malformed or genetically mutated. would sure love to see the dna workup on this one!
spcbat831 responds: August 18th, 2006 at 2:10 am
good for loren but like i stated looks like an akita and they where raised bred to fight bears explains it beating other dogs .
USMMJenny responds: August 18th, 2006 at 3:13 am
It’s a mutt with a broken jaw.
darelc responds: August 18th, 2006 at 4:34 am
The news hit the swedish media now.

I gotta say it has a strange long neck, strange hyena like tail, and human like eyes. It’s a mix between a dog and something, question is what is the something.
orionsbow responds: August 18th, 2006 at 5:10 am
You know, I like the idea of a mysterious raging beastie as much as anyone but, unfortunately, not many REAL oddities have turned up in the last, say, couple hundred years. And so it is with the appropriate amount of cynicism and incredulity that I must declare the expired animal in question another “not nearly half way to even getting around to coming close to being something that might be remotely considered partially similar in some way to anything that the normal person could mistake for an unknown type of previously not seen beastie”. It’s, dare I say OBVIOUSLY, a Chow/Akita mix or Akita/Husky mix. That might account for the blue eyes which are, quite frankly, the ONLY slightly remarkable thing about this poor dead doggy.

No one ever said this animal could be identified as THE one that was responsible for the various attacks on canines in the area so how could we speculate on that other than to say it MIGHT have been a scappy little booger when last breathing.

The misshapen teeth are unremarkable as well, given that a feral dog or one that had been long neglected could be in basically ANY state of abnormality including being in possession of curly choppers.

Since our departed subject is such, it would be difficult to ascertain anything about its temperament such as whether or not it might have been dangerous, aggressive or whether or not it, indeed, might have been feral at all. For all we know now, it may have had a big ole bowl of Eukanuba just prior to breaking free of its worn out collar and ultimately ending up in its current sorry state. Decomposition and predation can, in just a day or two in hot weather, reduce a thick, shiny black coat of luxurious fur to the disheveled, densely matted, dull and insect infested mess seen in the photos. A sad comment on the irresponsible nature of some people who purchase dogs to “enhance” their own selfish egos, yes. Previously unknown mutant beastie dog from the depths of hell? Hardly…

Next…
Dark-Obsessor responds: August 18th, 2006 at 8:51 am
I myself strongly doubt it’s a ‘mutant’ as the people are claiming because looking at it there are no noticable psyical differentiations from a normal canine.

They should find a new word. It may be a mongrel of some sort, maybe a wolf/dog or something. Who knows. It is interesting though, that this could be linked with the animal slayings of the area.

I say forget the publicity. It’s not a cryptid. Most things believed to be turn out to be real animals, or unknown ones, anyway.
crypto_randz responds: August 19th, 2006 at 10:17 am
The saga continues, a possible cryptid maybe.
zaggy responds: August 27th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
I think its interesting that no one has commented on the creatures teeth, I personally think they look like the teeth of an herbivore rather than any carnivore. Thus everyones claims that “Oh it killed my dog! Oh it killed my cat!! Oh its a vicious murderous beast of the apocolypse!!” are completely assinine. Do herbivores kill other animals? Not that I know of, no. Because what reasons do they have? They wouldn’t eat their victim, they obviously don’t have the right teeth for it. Also if this creature really does have flat teeth (herbivore teeth) as I believe, then that kind of kills all your thoughts on “Oh its just a deformed wolf. Oh its a hybrid wolf/poodle/pit bull.” Anyway… These are just the thoughts of a 16 year old punk… Oh and personally I have a few theories on this creatures origins, none of which I’m going to say, but anyway… I’m done.
chise-8340 responds: May 12th, 2007 at 7:08 am
well this animal seems to be a dog of some sort of mongrel dog… it looks a little like a sharpei (cant spell it) mixed with a fluffier dog like a husky… it looks like any other dog to me just a cross breed….a mutt… it has a sharpei shaped body and a huskies fur and facial features… this dog is NOT a beast it is just a mixed breed!!
redneck rick responds: December 5th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
its just some sort of mutt

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