OK...What did I see???

[kangareaux]

We were going to MILs yesterday and took the back way through the woods. (It's a road...just a more *rural* way) DH had to slow down for an animal to cross. We have NO IDEA what it was! I've lived on this road for 16 years. Spent weekends here for the last 35. I KNOW this area and what is normally here and this is something I've never seen!

It was a small animal. At first we thought it was a cat....but it didn't look like a cat. It was skinny. Had long legs. It was probably a foot long (Without tail) and at least a good 10 inches tall. It's legs were long and slender. (Not much of it's height was made up of body. Mostly legs.) I want to say that it trotted more like a dog than a cat. It had a tenny little ponted head. (Catlike) A tail that stuck straight out behind it. It's tail was bushy, but not BIG bushy like a fox, and was uniform in width (and poofiness) it's entire length. (Probably a good 8-10 inches of tail) It's fur was short and flat to it's body. Grey. Reminded me of raccoon fur.

I kept thinking it looked like a meerkat that was on all 4s, but when I go look at the meerkats, their legs are WAYYYYYYY too short. head shape was similar though. I don't know of any animal with the body shape (kind of tubular really) this one had that has those long legs! (OR that trots like a dog!) We thought MAYBE fox, but it would be one WEIRRRRRD looking fox!

So what the heck did we SEE?!?!? Anyone know???

 

[happygirl]

Nevermind I was thinking beaver

 

[Dee & Greg]

sounds like a coyote... was it the color of dead grass or grey?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

You have just described a coyote.

 

[kangareaux]

Yes, it was Grey. Coyotes are that small???

Off to do an image search! LOL!

 

[kangareaux]

OK...just looked at coyotes. Don't think it's what I saw. It's body was more *tubular*. (If that makes sense.) Smaller head. Tail did not *wisp* out like that. (Almost similar to a raccoon tail shape)

Coyotes have a dog-like look. This kind of had a cat-like look, but a dog-like trot. (More a large, tall, ferret/meercat look...LOL)

 

[goofy4tink]

Sure it wasn't a fishercat???? They are in the weasel family...kind of look like a mink on steroids. It's very rare to see one in the wild, at least a live one. We saw one a few winters ago...kind of scary. They are nasty viscious.

 

[LuvOrlando]

-

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

My guess was coyote as well.

 

[Villain-lover]

Maybe a Badger?

 

[happygirl]

A Grey Fox

http://www.hqwallpapers.net/data/643/thumbs/Interrupted_Grey_Foxes.jpg

 

[kangareaux]

Sure it wasn't a fishercat???? They are in the weasel family...kind of look like a mink on steroids. It's very rare to see one in the wild, at least a live one. We saw one a few winters ago...kind of scary. They are nasty viscious.

the pics I found of those look pudgy. It was thinner and with really long legs.

 

[kangareaux]

Not a badger. tall and thin.

If it was a fox, it was the strangest on I've ever seen. It's fur looked fine. (Not like it was diseased or had mange) It mooved like it was healthy. (could be wrog about that, but I wouldn't have thought it was sick in any way)

I'm just stumped! LOL!

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I know you said the tail wasn't bushy like a fox's, but otherwise it sounds fox-like to me. Perhaps a fox with mange or some other disease which makes it's fur appear odd?

And now I look silly for posting at the same time as the above. Oh well!

 

[maelstrom]

My vote is for coyote.

 

[RadioNate]

chupacabra

 

[happygirl]

chupacabra

What in the world is that

 

[Jenvenza]

chupacabra

I KNEW they existed!!!! I have been telling my husband this for years!!!

 

[kangareaux]

chupacabra

That's what my 12 year old said!

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

Chupacabra:
The Chupacabra or Chupacabras (pronunciation: /tʃupa'kabɾa/, from the Spanish words chupar, meaning "to suck", and cabra, meaning "goat"; literally "goat sucker"), also called El Chupacabra or El Chupacabras in Spanish, is a legendary cryptid rumored to inhabit parts of the Americas. It is associated more recently with sightings of an allegedly unknown animal in Puerto Rico (where these sightings were first reported), Mexico, and the United States, especially in the latter's Latin American communities.[1] The name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats. Physical descriptions of the creature vary. Eyewitness sightings have been claimed as early as 1990 in Puerto Rico, and have since been reported as far north as Maine, and as far south as Chile. It is supposedly a heavy creature, the size of a small bear, with a row of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail. Biologists and wildlife management officials view the Chupacabra as a contemporary legend.[2]

So, nothing like what the OP saw but still funny