http://www.news-record.com/news/local/rand/creature_060304.htm

Wait! It's a ... : Unidentified creature stumps experts
6-3-04
By Mark Brumley Staff Writer
News & Record

ASHEBORO -- First of all, this is a real newspaper, not a grocery-store tabloid.

So, the story you're about to read is true.

Randolph County resident Bill Kurdian photographed this unidentified animal in his back yard May 20. Kurdian took the photo with a motion-sensing camera. (Photo courtesy of Bill Kurdian)

It starts with Bill and Gayle Kurdian throwing out dried corn for the wildlife in their neck of the woods in eastern Randolph County, and an odd-looking creature taking them up on their hospitality early last winter.

"What in the world?" Bill Kurdian asked himself when he saw the animal for the first time.

About the size of a fox, but with short brown hair and a long cat-like tail, it looked more like an animal in a National Geographic spread out of Africa than any critter native to the woods of central North Carolina.

He's seen the creature off and on since about Christmas, with it wandering up several nights in a row, then disappearing for awhile.

Though Gayle Kurdian could vouch for her husband, when Bill Kurdian talked about the animal, people scoffed that it was just a dog.

"Everybody thought I was crazy," said Kurdian, the vice president of Matlab in Asheboro.

But Kurdian, an avid outdoorsman, got proof.

He captured the animal on two frames of film on May 20, using a motion-sensing camera that his wife gave him for Christmas.

In one frame, the animal was photographed from the front as it approached. The second frame caught a side view of the animal facing the camera.

Kurdian called Guy Lichty, a curator of mammals at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. But Lichty couldn't help based on just the description. So, as soon as he got his film developed, he couldn't wait to show it to Lichty. But Lichty and other curators were still unable to conclusively identify the animal.

Lorraine Smith, another curator of mammals who looked at the photo, said it might be a grey fox that has lost much of its fur, possibly because of parasites. But, she stopped short of total certainty.

"You learn with animals that you don't provide an absolute," Smith said.

There's speculation that it might be an exotic animal that got away from its private owner or was set free. It could also be a hybrid, Kurdian was told.

It's the second time this year that zoo curators have been called on to identify a strange animal sighted in the area.

In January, some people reported seeing an unidentifiable creature in southern Asheboro. Someone later trapped a large feral cat in the vicinity.

Zoo spokesman Rod Hackney joked that he wished North Carolina could put Randolph County's talent to work finding bizarre creatures for the zoo.

"Maybe we could increase attendance," Hackney quipped.

Kurdian still hopes that someone can identify his mystery animal. He's trying to catch it alive so the zoo or the N.C. State vet school can run blood tests.

"I'm not going to kill it," Kurdian assured folks.

"I don't think it's a vicious animal," he said. "It's just interesting."

http://www.news-record.com/graphics/june/creature060304.jpg

Whatever it is, it's healthy looking.

And, from appearance, isn't exactly a "scattered corn" eater!

I agree, and it doesn't look like "a gray fox that lost much of its fur". The coloring, long legs and big ears make it look like one of the wild dogs of Africa. It'll be interesting if they catch it to find out for sure.

It looks like a wild dog critter from the other side of the world. It was probably after the "corn-eaters".

Michael

Being the skeptic that I am, I think it is a very well done photoshop of a kit-fox head on something. The fur on the head is shaggy, and the face is a dead ringer for a kit fox, but the fur on the rest of the animal is short, almost like a deer, but with a long short-haired tail.
http://www.kitfoxvineyards.com/images/About_us_theKitFox.jpg

My vote is somebody had an illegal pet that got loose.

Dave

If my tired old eyes are seeing proper, this animal appears to have swollen teats... which means it is about to have or just had a litter of little mystery mutts. Now if you recall yer basic sex education, that means there is more than one of these phantom pooches out there. Hmmmm....The plot thickens.............."Randolph County over-run by egyption fox/doe/lions"

Geez, wouldn't you know that story would come from a place not far from me! I feel it is a good "edited" photo of a short haired house cat. It's all to easy to "crop and paste" to make your photos get the attention you want!!

My vote is that it was edited. I do that all the time on my computer to pass the time away....

http://webmail.rock.com/USERS/Z2tbdgUL56dfDRDShaUeFROrILiuskFnt22ihpiEFSeg62gQKi N2dutw2TFwP1rmekmS~2BkNoqhU4~0D~0AI770WnUGgnGs~2BA te1CISZ0ATot~2FM3Uc~3D/alex%20potter.bmp

Hey look, I'm Harry Potter!

If it was edited then someone spent ALOT of time on it, i've been working with photoshop for 7 year (thats from the time im 11!) and i can say that yes, it could be but it could also be an animal, looks like a large cat like one from egypt

I keep looking at it...and that's a pretty small head for that sized body which makes me suspicious.

The back half looks a lot like a mountain lion, cept fot the lower legs...I'm thinking it's a good edit job. But if it is, he had to edit in the shadow in the background to....which matches the animal.

Ohhh... good point, and the shadows match REALLY well..

Here in Australia, we get dingoes breeding with domesticated dogs and feral dogs regularly in the outback areas. I doubt that that could be one of those offshoots but I know for a fact that offspring can look like either or niether parent and any possible mix in between.
It is rather strange though, the body looks feline but the head looks cannine.

My first impression was that it could be a 'Maned Wolf' from South America.

Check this link, or Google, and see what you think.

http://www.bergen.org/Smithsonian/ManedWolf/

I think the head is way too small in proportion to the rest of the body. That's a small mouth feeding such a larger body. My vote is with "photochop".


Perferator

I was looking for the name of the S.American critter it reminded me of, and this is it, but the fur is short and has a sheen to it, very unlike the maned wolf. Could this be a wolf-dog hybred that someone has let go rather than face federal charges of keeping an endangered non-native animal? And why, if the camera was motion activated, is it staring right into the flash?
My first impression was that it could be a 'Maned Wolf' from South America.

Check this link, or Google, and see what you think.

http://www.bergen.org/Smithsonian/ManedWolf/

Now I remember where I saw this creature! It was on the Discovery or Animal Planet channel, don't remember which one, but this scientist was in the mountains of S.America and was working with locals trying to catch and tag it. It's some kind of tree dwelling animal, which had pretty hefty claws that were more for escaping up trees than coming after people. Once caged it didn't even attack but was really just trying to get away, and I also remember that it was omnivorous, loved monkey food and rodents as well. I don't think the picture was taken in North America, but rather in one of the breeding pens they had set up in the jungle to re-populate the species. About the size of a large fox, but longer legs and a distinct brownish fur coat like the picture. Still, someone could have smuggled it into the states and it got out. Don't know what species it was so if it was breeding with house cats or dogs I couldn't tell you. I think the pic is real just the story behind it isn't.

I was looking for the name of the S.American critter it reminded me of, and this is it, but the fur is short and has a sheen to it, very unlike the maned wolf. Could this be a wolf-dog hybred that someone has let go rather than face federal charges of keeping an endangered non-native animal? And why, if the camera was motion activated, is it staring right into the flash?

I've seen a lot of deer pictures where they're looking right at the camera. They hear it focus and turn their heads; quite often they're looking straight into the lens, just like they posed.

I was looking for the name of the S.American critter it reminded me of, and this is it, but the fur is short and has a sheen to it, very unlike the maned wolf. Could this be a wolf-dog hybred that someone has let go rather than face federal charges of keeping an endangered non-native animal? And why, if the camera was motion activated, is it staring right into the flash?

Could it be that this is a young one that hasn't gotten its adult coat yet?

Hmmm. Me know. It me buddy!