still more animal identification-new species? chupacabra? pictures of strange varmint
 

I thought about putting this in the paranoia section, but decided against it because it's not about an alien little man chupacabra. A few days ago, a weird creature was shot in deep East Texas. Here's the local newspaper story covering it:
lufkin daily news article
It looked like a nasty, mangy dog, but it's legs were different, smaller in front than in back, it had very little hair, it's flesh was rotting and crumbling, and it's jaw structure did not look like that of a dog, despite the large canine teeth. The investigator said that another similar creature ran across the road just as she was approaching the scene.

http://www.lufkindailynews.com/news/.../beast/p1.html
(contains several pictures on the subsequent pages.)

http://www.unknowncountry.com/img/ne.../critter-1.jpg
(also here, with commentary.)
http://www.unknowncountry.com/lufkin_images.phtml

I'd dismiss it as just a stray and diseased dog, maybe a cross dog/coyote, combined with not the brightest east texas animal experts, except that earlier this summer, another very similar creature was shot in South Texas, and was so remarkably different from a typical dog that in garned some media attention.
I fopund a few articles about the one shot in East Texas and a few More about the one earlier this year in Elmendorf, Texas.
See are to a reputable news website in San Antonio, some are to more in-search-of-the-paranormal type sites:
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story...2-CD4EFE086BD9
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story...4-9097690cdefc
look at the pictures here- it looks like the same kind of critter to me.
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story...4-3C6F6C31975E
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story...7-5CB484EBA2F4
http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=4069
http://www.anomalynews.com/phorum/re...=7&i=103&t=103
http://www.anomalynews.com/phorum/re...=7&i=101&t=101

Is it a new creature? a strange canine disease? I don't know, but I find it fascinating.

I dunno...those are some wicked teeth though. I wouldn't want to come across a live one for sure!

The facial looks almost that of a rat, body of a miniature kangaroo

weird...

Looks like a half-decayed coyote or mexican wolf to me...

Didn't they already say what this was a while back? Just some sort of dog?

It was shot two days ago. I've seen mangy coyotes before, but nothing like that.

there were some similar instances of this dog in virginia and maryland a few months back. not sure if they ever found the things...there were just several sightings of them running around.

I think you need to warn people before posting pics like that.

I WAS eating.

No kidding! Christ, I didn't need to see a picture of a dead half decayed animal :(

This reminds me of old footage I've seen of Tasmanian Devils. The body & jawline doesn't look as long, though.

That's defiently something messed up.

sorry folks.

No. At least not the last time I checked. They were saying it LOOKS like some type of dog, but that it's nothing like any dog breed we have out there. So.. hmm ?? New dog breed? Coyote mixed with greyhound/rat ?

:hmm:

it looks like it craped itself!

this thing is all over the web- seems that there will be dna stuff forthcomming soon- maybe a wierd coydog cross?

doesn't look that far decayed. in fact, it doesn't look like anything has started to eat at it. i'm very surprised at that.

I don't know what Chupacabra was described to these people. They obviously don't know too much about the myth if they're comparing it to a fuckin canine. All the stories I've ever heard about when describing a chupacabra have resembled a creature looking something like this drawing.

http://www.geocities.com/prrt352/chupacabra1.JPG

See the name means "goat sucker". They called it that because people kept finding dead goats with either a single large hole or a few tiny ones in thier necks and their bodies we're completely drained of their blood. Though they did describe it as something that looked half kangaroo/half reptilian...kinda like a dragon of some sort. Though that creature looks a lil like a roo....theres no way that little fucker sucked goats dry from the neck. Plus the teeth are all wrong. That thing has canine teeth. It wouldn't puncture and suck them dry...it would tear off pieces of them.

Asta!!

Am I the only one who feels sorry for this poor animal lying dead (not in it's own crap, I think it's obviously blood from it being shot)? Yes, like others said, there were similar stories going around a few months ago, it turned out to be a coyote or fox (I forget) that had a terrible case of mange.

If anyone's ever seen a hairless cat then they'd know that normally furry animals look totally different without all their hair, much thinner and smaller than they normally appear. IMHO that animal is a canine of some type that is missing it's fur and you can't make assumptions about it based on it's teeth or leg length. It's dead, all things look different when they're dead.

I've known a few dogs that would have looked just like that in life if missing their fur, their hindlegs were way more built-up, larger and muscular than their fronts. The head does look a little rattish, but it's been dead for awhile and was quite emaciated when it died, the muscles could have shrunk or withered so that the teeth are showing and the muzzle looks more pointed, or as the article said, it could be a congenital deformity of the jaw.

I wonder why the women's brother shot it with no question instead of trying to capture it or calling animal control.

I dunno, in this day and age I just don't think there could be any "new" species of animals anywhere near populated area's that scientists don't already know about. In any case, I feel sorry for the creature that was shot and killed for no reason,it seems, other than (possibly) attention grabbing (and from a supposed vetrinary/zoo worker no less). Just makes me sad.

Ali

in the shooters defence, coyotes have increased in number since the turn of the century- so much so that they are quite a nuiscence creature in many areas- especially when they can and do go after smaller livestock and pets- this is especially true in the western states- and as coyotes breed with dogs, we are getting bigger animals that have less fear of humans- thus they tend to show up in your back yard, eating trash and generally being annoying- add to this that the animal was obviously diseased- and try to capture it- sorry, that comes a bit close to home, as I just tried to rescue a young ferral cat living in a storm drain- I will have permanent scars from this endevor, Trying to capture a diseased wild animal is a very bad joke- and anyone who has tried will tell you so- add to this that the critter was crawling under her house- any animal controll agent I know would take one look at that and ask for a gun.......

just looks like a severely emaciated dog to me. maybe one of those mexican hairless dogs that contracted a nasty nasty disease like rabies or distemper.

in most developing worlds there are mangy stray dogs that look like healthier versions of this... keeping in mind that this is mildly decayed.

might even have been a deformed puppy that someone just let go and it went feral.

actually the black substance could be a stool.. ive seen some very underfed dogs before that died excrete that kind of looking substance.. it was the last vistage of waste in their system.. so it could be that.

it does look like the thing hadn't eaten much lately before its demise.. yet it looks like it was build for speed like a greyhound .. weight wise. the shorter legs you got me. the short jaw combined with the long snout.. hmm roots around in piles of something to eat? damn its strange..

yeah this should have a NSWE instead of a NSFW WE while eating heh

It is a coyote or a fox with a vary bad case of sarcoptic mange.