Ugly mangy lookin mystery animal

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/3545312/detail.html

Hands,

Whatever it is, its downright ugly !!

Perhaps and overgrown Wombat ??

Bet ya din't know that I was an Amishcan-Aussie, now did ya ?? Probably explains all of my good looks, charm, and wit, hey ?? ... lol


99er

Kinda grainy pictures, but looks like a deformed Hyena to me.....or maybe a really ugly coyote with a bad case of the mange.

Yeah...bottom line is it looks mangy....but, looks like a hyena in the face, don't it?..weird....

Yo Eli....lol....alright I'll bite. How'd you become an Amishcan-Aussie-can?

Yano, after further review, I'm gunna name that creature a "PigDog". Sorta what one might expect, iffen ya crossed "Pigger" and "Dogbone" !! ... lol

99er

...kinda makes one shudder Eli...lol

Hands:

I may wind up with egg on my face but I'm looking at the hind quarters in the picture. I think it's a dog.

Gerald....
I'd believe it was just a mangy dog too than I would that it's some kind of new crossbreed animal that we all haven't discovered yet.
My opinion...I'd say some funky mangy dog, too.

My first impression was that it's a hyena, but if I recall from my days living in that area all the hyenas in Maryland are the two legged variety. He doesn't look like anything I'd want prowling around my property at night. I guess he's probably just a mangy dog. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I would guess a dog with real bad mange. The mut must be suffering something awful.

Hands:

I know I said it looked like a dog -but on last night's TV I saw a report of a new sighting of the beast and the pictures sure looked like a hyena -and I have seen hyena for real.

Crazy as it seems, I'll now agree it looks more like a hyena and certainly not like any dog. (The TV report gave me a clearer look at the shoulders and face)

Too cool. Reckon it's an "escapee" of some kind then?

hyena, probly was someones pet, looks pretty roughlike its been on its own for awhile with on care.

A hyena is a BIG animal....People say they are not scared of it.....So I doubt its that...

Boyd:

Maybe a young one?

They could be just crazy Doesn't seem that they are even snaching up their kids when it's near. I'd have to, cause mine would try to pet it.

Hyenas are strictly nocturnal - this behavior suggests another animal. Furthermore a hyena generally has much shorter hind legs than those depicted in the first photo.

Looks like a mangy dog to me...

Young Hyena

Looks like my old prom date. I'm guessing just an ugly dog.

[quote=mikejr,Jul 25 2004, 06:44 PM]
Hyenas are strictly nocturnal - this behavior suggests another animal. Furthermore a hyena generally has much shorter hind legs than those depicted in the first photo.

Looks like a mangy dog to me...

Mike:

Sorry to disagree with you. Spotted hyena are not "strictly nocturnal". Far from it. They are aggressive hunters (far more than scavengers) and regularly prowl the outskirts of wildebeest and zebra herds in broad day light. I have seen hyena in groups anywheres from 3-4 to over a dozen in daylight. They are always constantly on the move and covering the terrain like a vacuum cleaner,seizing anything from a ground squirrel on up. At the smell of blood, of course, they vector in like homing missiles. It's often difficult to say who shows up first, the vultures or the hyena and that is often in broad daylight.
It's that sloping back, the outstanding characteristic of the hyena (along with the massive or lengthy jaws) that has me think that it's a hyena. No fox or coyote or wolf or dog has so pronounced a sloping back. Boyd makes a good point about size. A spotted hyena can range up to 175 lbs (according to my copy of the Safari Club Record book). However I did a little research and found that there is a striped hyena that averages 75-100 lbs in weight. I think the animal in the picture does have a bad case of mange. That suggests that it was once living around dogs or cats (a household pet?) I hope that someone puts the poor beast out of its misery, in any event.

[quote=Hands,Jul 22 2004, 01:10 AM]
Ugly mangy lookin mystery animal

Hands:

Just read on "Accuratereloading.com" on the thread "What is this animal?" that Fox News reported that the animal has been captured by conservation officers.

According to the report, it is a young red fox with a bad case of mange.

I humbly apologize to all those who disputed my belief that it was a hyena. A red fox? That's the biggest fox, then I ever saw! OK,OK, I'm covering myself for a real boner.

I was just relaying what I had read about hyenas... I do realize they have gotten a bad rap for being scavengers when in fact they do a lot of killing/hunting compared to lions, which may actually be the scavengers...

Thanks for keeping us informed

Mike:

I truly am embarrassed to read that the animal was a red fox! I swear that I wonder about the camera angles that showed that critter! How I could have mistaken an animal that doesn't weigh 14 lbs soaking wet for a hyena that I actually saw any number of times in 5 weeks in Africa, I can't explain. (BTW, I shot a Cape buff about 7 miles from the truck. The PH wanted me to go back with him to get the truck but I refused when he said that the local "Ranger" (our watch dog from the Ministry of Parks and Game) would "protect" the kill. The guy had an AK47 which did not inspire me with confidence. The PH agreed that I could stay while he and the trackers went back for the truck. I remember something he said : " If lions (he meant lionesses) show up and there's more than two, get up the tree. If one hyena shows up get up the tree. (There was a big acacia nearby) It was after watching a group of hyenas on a warthog (through binoculars) that I realized why the hyena was so feared. (I have a picture that I took of an hyena skull that was mounted in our camp and which I show often to people. No one ever guesses what it is. The jaws are massive. If you can explain how I can get to send the picture I'll be glad to do so.

A fox, huh?..LoL...I never would have guessed it. Man, he was ate up in mange then.