Unusual Creature Killed by Rancher
 Near San Antonio, Texas

Can You Identify This Creature?

Source: Express-News, San Antonio, Texas - July 29, 2004

Chickens started disappearing from a farmer's back yard.  At first the farmer blamed his dog, but when 35 birds disappeared in one day, he knew there was another culprit.  The farmer shot a nearly hairless creature as it munched on a a nearby mulberry tree.  He took pictures of the creature before burying it (see picture above).  The creature had a hair pattern about 1 to 2 inches long down to the ridge of the back.  He said that he had lived there for 15 years and never had seen anything like it. 

A wildlife biologist from San Antonio identified the beast as a coyote with a disease called "mange" which is caused by parasites.  A local zoo manager thought that the creature could be a wild Mexican dog because it weighed about 20 pounds.  The farmer isn't convinced that it is either a wild dog or a coyote.  He said that the creature had fangs protruding from the upper jaw unlike any coyote.  The creature's ears resembled those of a desert rat and it had the muzzle of a rat.  He further stated that the creature had a "bluish-like" skin.  Since he killed the animal his chickens have quit disappearing.  The farmer is hoping that someone will conduct a DNA test of the creature.