"Mystery Beast" killed in Turner, Maine

[Mercutio]

Story here (free registration may be required.) (http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060818/NEWS0104/108180276/-1/NEWS02)
Another article here... (http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060817/NEWS0104/108160223)From the earlier article:Loren Coleman, a Portland author and cryptozoologist, said he didn't know for sure what the animal was based on his examination of its remains Wednesday.

"I think this dead animal is a chow or chow-mix, a relatively small dog, that was feral, which is unusual for that area," he told the Sun Journal newspaper. He noted, however, that his was only an educated guess based on the findings so far.Some say it's simply a dog. Others say it's a goat-sheep hybrid. Still others weighed in that the creature may have been a Tasmanian devil, a dingo, a wolf or coyote. Some of the more outlandish theories involve mutations and extraterrestrials.http://fdimg.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=FD&Date=20060817&Category=NEWS0104&ArtNo=108160223&Ref=AR&MaxW=250

From today's article, a prediction reminiscent of the Texas Miracle Pissing Tree....The Sun Journal newspaper obtained samples of the creature and shipped them to a University of Maine professor and to HealthGen in Toronto for genetic tests to determine the type of animal, said Judith Meyer, managing editor.

But the test results may not matter because people tend to be enthralled with the idea of something that defies categorization.

"Having scientific evidence is not going to kill this story. It's like an unslayable monster that will keep coming back," predicted Elizabeth Eames, chairwoman of the anthropology department at Bates College.

[RayG]

But the test results may not matter because people tend to be enthralled with the idea of something that defies categorization.

Ain't that the truth!!

Here's an online report that's not only free (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,208683,00.html), it offers a scientific explanation:

In the end, wildlife officials got a DNA analysis that showed the animal was a rare wolf-dog hybrid, he said.
RayG

[tim]

"A goat-sheep hybrid?"
It's a dog. It's obviously a dog. Are these people blind?
A wombat stomps of in disgust, shaking his head in disbelief at the idiocy displayed by some people...................

[Boo]

Rare wolf/dog hybrid? Since when are wolf/dog hybrids rare?




Boo

[Mercutio]

Rare wolf/dog hybrid? Since when are wolf/dog hybrids rare?

Boo

Wolf/chihuahua. Don't think about it.

[Katana]

Ain't that the truth!!

Here's an online report that's not only free (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,208683,00.html), it offers a scientific explanation:
In the end, wildlife officials got a DNA analysis that showed the animal was a rare wolf-dog hybrid, he said.

RayG
I'm glad they did. The first story I read said that they weren't interested. At least this can put the speculations to rest.

[MortFurd]

Wolf/chihuahua. Don't think about it.
Chihauhua/elephant. Do you know the punch line?

[kittynh]

It's a CHUCACABRA!!!!!!!!! (or however it is spelt)

AUGHAUGH!!!

they have migrated NORTH from Puerto Rico! It's an ARCTIC Chucacabra!!!

AUGHAUGHAUGH!!!!!

(see this is way more fun).

Weirest thing I've ever seen in Puerto Rico is a mongoose with rabies. I caled it a "foaming lizardo-squirrelo" until I found out what it was. Charged me. Probably as dangerous as a REAL chucacabra.

[Aepervius]

Deleted double post.

[Aepervius]

wiki (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra)

Naturally the fact that I know the spelling is not related to the fact my colleague and I have "special" name shield.

(everybody has their name, whereas we had last month "el presidente" for my colleague and "el gato" for me, and next month was going to be "el diablo" for him and "el chupacabra" for me... Yeah we are strange persons).

[Mercutio]

I'm glad they did. The first story I read said that they weren't interested. At least this can put the speculations to rest.

Bets? From the article quoted in the OP:But the test results may not matter because people tend to be enthralled with the idea of something that defies categorization.

"Having scientific evidence is not going to kill this story. It's like an unslayable monster that will keep coming back," predicted Elizabeth Eames, chairwoman of the anthropology department at Bates College.

The speculations have been put to rest about the Texas Miracle Pissing Tree, but people are still lining up to drink, wash, or collect a bottle of magic water.

[kittynh]

My friend that is from India told me about the statues that drink milk...

that was totally disproved. She just was taunting my Catholic neighbor about did HER statues drink...huh huh....

[fuelair]

Rare wolf/dog hybrid? Since when are wolf/dog hybrids rare?
Boo

I am very curious about that DNA ID. Wolves and dogs cannot functionally be told apart BY DNA. The difference is at best on the order of .2% of one gene location - and most genetic labs aren't set up to test at that level. That's one of, but not the only, reasons that when localities try to make laws about keeping wolves/wolfe/dog hybrids the owners run for a vet or geneticist to explain that to the persons trying to pass the law - on the theory that each time an animal is accused of being a wolfe or hybrid they demand a DNA test, it comes back inconclusive so can't apply (the law) to that animal. Gets expensive, loses money, loses voters.

[Loss Leader]

I am very curious about that DNA ID.

Well, they didn't really need a DNA test to classify it as a wolf-dog hybrid, did they? The DNA test could have come back "wolf or dog" and then the final determination could have been made by comparing it to known examples of the hybrid animals.

In any case, if I were a dog, I would spend my days doing nothing but trying to figure out how to nail a she-wolf. I mean, that's got to be like an Ohio State student getting Lucy Lawless. That's got to be like Paris and B'Elana. Good for the dog, is what I say.

[fuelair]

Well, they didn't really need a DNA test to classify it as a wolf-dog hybrid, did they? The DNA test could have come back "wolf or dog" and then the final determination could have been made by comparing it to known examples of the hybrid animals.

In any case, if I were a dog, I would spend my days doing nothing but trying to figure out how to nail a she-wolf. I mean, that's got to be like an Ohio State student getting Lucy Lawless. That's got to be like Paris and B'Elana. Good for the dog, is what I say.

Not arguing the point - but the article claimed Wildlife did get one and claimed it showed a "rare dog/wolf hybrid" (a claim that implies they could distinguish) - and the claim is no one could identify it as a specific breed. If it could not be traced to wolf or dog specifically and it was not a recognized type then it could just as easily been a hybrid of two dog breeds.

[schplurg]

Hold on! No DNA test was performed in this case.

I believe the DNA test was performed on another animal in another case. Read the page again...

After reviewing photos of the carcass, Coleman said he was bothered by the animal's ears and snout. It reminded him of a case years ago in northern Maine in which an animal shot by a hunter could not be identified.


In the end, wildlife officials got a DNA analysis that showed the animal was a rare wolf-dog hybrid, he said.

more

Nobody knows for sure what it is, and theories have ranged from a hyena (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:siteSearch%28%27hyena%27%29;) or dingo to a fisher or coydog (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:siteSearch%28%27coydog%27%29;), an offspring of a coyote and a wild dog.


Now, people are asking if the mystery beast and the animal killed over the weekend are one and the same.


Wildlife officials and animal control officers declined to go to Turner to examine the remains. By Tuesday, the carcass had been picked clean by vultures and there was not much left of the dead animal.

[Goshawk]

Well, they've still got the skeleton, don't they? Hyenas, dingos (canines), and fishers have identifiably different skeletal structures.

[Ausmerican]

Not a Dingo. They are rarely black haired and their eyes range from yellow to orange. I full grown Tassie Devil is maybe a foot high so unless it's a little critter thats out too.

[latent aaaack]

The operative logic here being if it looks like a dog, walks like a dog, and talks like a dog it's a mutant extraterrestrial here to feast off our souls. If these people went to a dog breed show they'd piss themselves if this is how they react to a chow mix.

[Stellafane]

It's a cross between Ted Turner and a greyhound. It migrated from Rhode Island to Turner, Maine, in a misguided attempt to find its father. Ted Turner had it killed to cover up the scandal.

(Family Guy fans will get this.)

[Checkmite]

Rare wolf/dog hybrid? Since when are wolf/dog hybrids rare?


I think they mean that particular hybrid is rare.

[Mouthfire]

You are all wrong....

This is very clearly a WEREWOLF!

[Cinorjer]

I had a good laugh when I saw the "mainstreet" news covering this nonstory, because the photo was obviously cropped to show only the head of the animal. To anyone with a skeptical mindset, that's a dead giveaway it's in the Woo catagory.

There's a supposed really strange creature lying dead on the ground and someone with a good camera recording this, and the only part of it that's plastered on the news is the head? I would anticipate complete pictures show a normal dog body nothing more than a really ugly dog or a dog with its head deformed by the impact of bumper on bone.

And the animal was just left there for buzzards to pick apart? When a really strange mutation or creature could be worth money, even dead?

I wonder if Bigfoot is missing his pet?

[RayG]

I would anticipate complete pictures show a normal dog body nothing more than a really ugly dog or a dog with its head deformed by the impact of bumper on bone.

The original story on Fox includes a picture (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,208683,00.html) of the entire body. Yup, it's still a dog.

RayG

[LTC8K6]

Woof!

http://www.cryptomundo.com/wp-content/Kovu604.jpg

http://www.cryptomundo.com/wp-content/Beast1b.jpg

[Huntster]

Originally Posted by Mercutio
But the test results may not matter because people tend to be enthralled with the idea of something that defies categorization.

Ain't that the truth!!

For some folks, you bet.

The opposite is true, too. Some pinhead will perform a "test", and claim it's a wolf/dog hybrid when the DNA test can't determine that at all, and many will "believe."

[atari24]

I don't see anything about the corpse that makes it look like anything other than a dog. It's one of the most average looking generic dogs I've ever seen.

[BrianSI]

Rare wolf/dog hybrid? Since when are wolf/dog hybrids rare?




Boo

That's the way I cook / eat 'em.

[Kevin Levites]

It always amazes me how often weird animals turn up in the strangest places.

Here in Florida, I've seen 8 foot long Burmese pythons in the wild, wild monkeys on one of the Keys, wild parrots, rosehair tarantulas, and--just once--a monstrously huge reticulated python that surprised me at the wrong time and almost made me have a childish accident. I have no doubt that it is still out there, somewhere in the Everglades, chowing down alligators and wild pigs unlucky enough to cross it's path.

Stan Schmidt (editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact) wrote an editorial recently about a South American cayman that turned up near a sewer in New York City (I know, I know, but maybe some urban legends have a least a grain of truth in them), and a full-blooded coyote recently turned up in New York's Central Park.

I can order a wolf-dog hybrid online, if I choose.

The idea that one has turned up in Maine doesn't surprise me at all. To paraphrase Michael Shermer, I want an intact body.

Best,

---Kevin

[Goshawk]

Update: A lab in Toronto is reportedly doing a DNA test on the remains. (http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/08/25/beast-tests.html)

[ysabella]

You are all wrong....

This is very clearly a WEREWOLF!

No, it's a WEREFISHER!

Or maybe a WEREFISHERCAT, because up in those parts they sometimes call fishers 'fishercats.' Like this minor-league baseball team in New Hampshire (http://www.nhfishercats.com).

But to me, it doesn't look mustelid-y.

For anyone thinking about a wolf-dog hybrid, our local wolf sanctuary says: Think Again (http://www.wolfhaven.org/Think_Again_Main.htm).

[Euromutt]

Rare wolf/dog hybrid? Since when are wolf/dog hybrids rare?I think Joshua Koroshi hypothesized correctly. Hybrid breeders tend to use dog breeds which already closely resemble wolves, such as malamutes and huskies. A combination of a wolf with a different dog breed would indeed be rare. But as noted, that was a different critter from this one.

And given that this thing is 20 kilos, it's too damn small to be anything but the weirdest hybrid. This is nothing a breeder would purposely produce unless he were utterly incompetent, and it's unlikely that it's the illicit offspring of a feral dog and a she-wolf in heat, since the nearest wild wolf population is on the far side of the St. Lawrence river. So I don't think this is a hybrid at all; more likely just some feral mongrel.

[OSS 117]

Lab results are in...

From Associated Press.


LEWISTON — DNA tests have removed the veil of mystery from a creature that created a media and Internet sensation. It was just a dog — 100 percent dog, according to the Sun Journal.
The newspaper ordered up tests to end the speculation by readers who thought the creature may have been a Tasmanian devil, a dingo, a wolf or coyote. Some of the more outlandish theories involve mutations and extraterrestrials.
Dr. Yuri Melekovets, the laboratory director at HealthGene Corp. in Toronto, said he's certain that the creature was just a dog.
The animal, which was hit by a car while chasing a cat, was photographed by a local resident and the image was provided to the newspaper. People in Turner speculated that it had been a mystery creature that killed pets and screamed at nights, terrorizing residents.
It had a short snout, small ears and blue eyes.
Michelle O'Donnell, who saw the animal days before it was killed, described it to the newspaper as "the weirdest-looking thing I have ever seen."
State wildlife biologists and local animal control officers declined to go to Turner to examine the remains of the animal.
Without any official findings, the creature obtained near-mythical status as word spread in the media and on the Internet. The newspaper obtained a paw from the animal's remains and ordered up its own tests.
Melekovets said the dog was likely a mix of breeds. He said there could be a trace of "rare breed" in the specimen. His guess? Perhaps a fairly new breed from Germany known as an Eurasier, which is a cross between a wolfspitz, chow and Samoyed.
His conclusion supports the findings of a University of Maine professor, Irv Kornfield, who also determined that the creature was a dog.
Kornfield said the unique DNA signature was run through the nation's gene bank database, where DNA sequences are logged, and it "most closely resembled the very common genetic signature for domestic dog."

[kitakaze]

Dog Jokes Go!!

[HeyLeroy]

I thoughtr it was a stoat.http://www.mhcbe.ab.ca/st_francis/gr1/Webquests/pen-stoat.jpg

In a boat.

[LTC8K6]

Most closely resembled.....

Uh Oh! Unidentified DNA Alert!!!!!

[tim]

I despair. It looked like a dog. It was a dog. Yet people turn it into a "mystery beast."

[Correa Neto]

*Looks at Tim's avatar and starts making a wild "theory" on mutant alien wombats*

[tim]

*Looks at Tim's avatar and starts making a wild "theory" on mutant alien wombats*


*Looks at Correa Neto's avatar and starts making a wild "theory" on mutant alien crocodiles*
Or is it an alligator? :p ;) or a lizard. Whatever it is, it looks alien to me............

[Correa Neto]

psssssssst!

Carefull or David Icke will catch me!

[Mercutio]

I thoughtr it was a stoat.http://www.mhcbe.ab.ca/st_francis/gr1/Webquests/pen-stoat.jpg

In a boat.

HeyLeroy, I note, in your quotable quote
That you tote up your vote for a stoat in a boat
But the beast from Down East is not stoat in the least
No, that visual feast is a dog that's deceased

It might have been weasel; it might have been ferret
But DNA testing made Mainers aware it
Was only a dog, not an alien being--
How long till the tabloids chime in, disagreeing?

"A conspiracy! Fraud! How conveniently odd
That the testers (the usual government squad)
Found just what they wanted! You know that they lied! Oh,
You know that it's werewolf, and not merely Fido!"

"A werewolf, with alien blood in its veins--
Now that's the real tale of the creature's remains!
An FBI story, conspiring with SETI,
But really, an alien-werewolf-slash-yeti!"

"A cryptobiologist's nightmare, this thing--
Why, the newspapers photoshopped out its large wing--
A reliable source (I won't tell, but I wanna)
Calls the bastard love-child of Batboy and Madonna"

This DNA testing won't end the debate
The beast died; the story won't suffer that fate
The story will live and grow large in the telling
On conspiracy blogs with large fonts and bad spelling

In life, he was just one more nondescript pup
But in death he's a story the whole world eats up
So goodbye dear dog, rest in peace, gentle Rover
The story lives on, but this poem is now over.

[ysabella]

Nominated!

:clap: :clap:

[Mercutio]

Nominated!

:clap: :clap:
Great...now I get to compete with Dr. Adequate...




[thanks anyway!]

[SteveGrenard]

It looks like one of these with its tail intact:

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/schipperke.htm

Finding Belgian Barge/Boat (Schipperkes) dogs in Maine is not far fetched either
Scroll down pg 2 to see an example of its glowing eyes.


While the tail is usually entirely removed at birth, a Schipperke who has the tail left intact has a beautiful plume that curves up over its back.


http://www.thebreedsofdogs.com/SCHIPPERKE.htm (http://www.thebreedsofdogs.com/SCHIPPERKE.htm)

In some countries the rule to show this breed requires the tail be left intact.

[SteveGrenard]

*Looks at Correa Neto's avatar and starts making a wild "theory" on mutant alien crocodiles*
Or is it an alligator? :p ;) or a lizard. Whatever it is, it looks alien to me............

my wild guess is to say it is the Spectacled Caiman, Caiman crocodilus

See:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/cnhc/csp_ccro.htm

The main issue with this is it true that crocodilians shed crocodile tears?

Yes.

http://www.wonderquest.com/hidden-tears-hard-water-flat-poles.htm

And for further discussion is the question as to whether or not they have eyelids and if so how many?

Check this out:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/cnhc/images/cp-eyeopen1.mpg