Experts puzzle over mystery creature found in Wise County

Sat Jan 30, 2010 1:33 am » by **Papermoon**

jayson1972 wrote:It is a F&^%ing fox or somthing bloated with its hair fallen out. Stop trying to make somthing out of nothing.

LOL! No it's just a balloon or swamp gas!

Sat Jan 30, 2010 1:37 am » by **Papermoon**

slushpup wrote:http://www.wfaa.com/video/featured-videos/hairless-creature-identified-82109597.html

Positive ID for strange creature in Wise County

by JIM DOUGLAS / WFAA-TV

Posted on January 19, 2010 at 10:13 PM

Updated Wednesday, Jan 20 at 1:42 PM

WISE COUNTY — Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist Jennifer Barrow measures the rear feet of a small, hairless creature laid out on a picnic table.

"The pad is the giveaway," she says.

Barrow has seen feet and claws exactly like this many times; teeth, too. She puts a section of jawbone down next to the animal's head for comparison.

"This tooth right here is this tooth right here," she says. "It matches perfectly."

But she's never seen a critter like this.

It was found dead on the Runaway Bay golf course in Wise County last Wednesday morning. Tony Potter picked it up.

"I get out here and I was like, 'What is that? It's not a dog,'" he said. Potter said a local vet didn't know what it was, either.

Potter posted video of the animal on YouTube, and News 8 reported the story on Monday. All the exposure generated an enormous response; many viewers thought it was a type of hairless dog.

It looked to Potter like a raccoon with no hair.

Jennifer Barrow says Potter is correct. "The feet are raccoon feet. The skull is a raccoon skull. Dental formula matches raccoon dental formula. It's a raccoon," Barrow concluded.

A hairless raccoon.

It is just like another specimen found in Kentucky, caught alive and confirmed through lab tests.

We found other photos on the Internet that match the Wise County specimen.

Researchers suspect the hairlessness is due to a congenital defect, not disease. Game warden Penny Nixon wants to emphasize that point.

"This is just an anomaly of a common species," she said. "We don't want anyone alarmed by it. We don't want people to think we have a mange problem or any kind of problem in our wildlife in Wise County."

So wildlife officials are certain they know what it is, but they also know it will likely perpetuate the myth of a creature called the chupacabra.

"They don't exist," Barrow said. "Most of the chupacabra reports are mangy coyotes. Hairless coyotes."

"I was always told that the chupacabra was a mythical beast that was used to keep children from straying far from home, as in: Don't go out there, because the chupacabra might get you," Nixon said.

The little brownish-gray animal on the table might have been a threat to your garbage can, but not to your children.

Barrow said the raccoon apparently was just an unfortunate trick of nature, with no coat to keep him warm through the winter.

The Center for Animal Research and Education in Bridgeport will take custody of the critter. They hope more tests can be performed.

E-mail jdouglas@wfaa.com

Unless they were TOLD to say that. It seems like the biologists would have known right off the bat if that's what it really was. The tests show it's something else, oh we can't have mass panic on our hands, let's just say it's a hairless raccoon or a balloon or swamp gas. :mrgreen:

Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:54 pm » by **Naranja**

humanbeing wrote:When ever I see photographs of "mystery" animals, whether they be alive or dead, Off-planet always comes to mind. If there are other races out in the stars who generally look the same as us, and breathe oxygen and drink water, it is easy to assume that of course there would be mammals, birds, reptiles etc, on their home worlds.
Human beings here on earth have a very wide range of different animals that we like to call 'pets'. We often take our animals with us when we go places, like going on vacation, or perhaps some field work.
With ET's being on our planet on a regular basis, whats to say that one's pet escaped, or got lost and couldnt survive because it need's certain things that its home world naturally provides.

Or it could be some strange monster from another dimension that made its way through to our world via a wormhole or vortex.
But maybe in the end it really is just someones "Toto".

Thank you! Havent really thought of that scenario, hey why not.

Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:18 am » by **Lowsix**

papermoon wrote:

Unless they were TOLD to say that. It seems like the biologists would have known right off the bat if that's what it really was. The tests show it's something else, oh we can't have mass panic on our hands, let's just say it's a hairless raccoon or a balloon or swamp gas.

^&#^$*&#^$*&^#*&^$*%%@*&^%#$*&Q*#&^Q(*@!!!!

It really is..actually, literally, definitvely, provably, tested...scientifically, zoologically
A FREAKING RACOON!

really.

That post is an example of what I call the Opposite of Disinfo.

Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:26 am » by **sockpuppet**

LowSix wrote:^&#^$*&#^$*&^#*&^$*%%@*&^%#$*&Q*#&^Q(*@!!!!

It really is..actually, literally, definitvely, provably, tested...scientifically, zoologically
A FREAKING RACOON!

really.

That post is an example of what I call the Opposite of Disinfo.

LOL

Sun Jan 31, 2010 9:34 am » by **Desertryane**

These Wonderful creatures are popping up all over!!
I Wonder if there is anyone NOT working for the government or state that can
provide DNA testing
I grew up in the deep south and can tell you that is not a animal that i am
familiar with Mange or not

PS

Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:09 am » by **Lowsix**

desertryane wrote:These Wonderful creatures are popping up all over!!
I Wonder if there is anyone NOT working for the government or state that can
provide DNA testing
I grew up in the deep south and can tell you that is not a animal that i am
familiar with Mange or not

PS

Well, then..

Nice to meet you.
Its sort of afirst for me.

You see, ive never known anyone who lived in the south who has never seen a simple raccon.

They are not mystical creatures as you may or may not have heard.
And when they lose their hair..

Now you know exactly what they look like..
In case you ever see another one.

I hope seeing your first raccoon wasnt too much of a shock to your system.

Yes, they tested it.
Yes there are zoologists who were able to identify it before they tested it.
Yes, that is a racoon.

Dont be mad.
And do NOT go into zoology. Trust me.