I think it was a pair of wolf-dog hybrids, with their appearance blown out of proportion.

I believe it was a wolf-dog hybrid that had a rare genetic disorder called Giantism.

I think it was a Werewolf.

i have ssen the movie like 10 times.....i have to go with what the movie is implying that it was a lion.

I'm not too sure what this beast was, but I have done a little article on the subject.
If this kind of information has been posted elsewhere , I apologize. I have done a search but I am not familiar with all the cp's yet.

This story happened in France between June 1764 and June 1767 and occurred in a place called Lozère a district in france around Gevaudan
This beast was described as wolf like. Though nearly the size size of a cow. Its chest was wide, its tail long and thin with a lion-like tuft of fur at its end. Its snout was like that of a greyhound, and large fangs protruded from its formidable jaws. The beast was believed to be incredibly agile - it was credited with taking leaps of up to 30 feet . The Paris Gazette, carrying a story about the monster, commented that it was reddish in colour, that its chest was wide and grey, and that the hind legs were longer than the fore legs. Another account of the beast, published in the English Saint James' Chronicle, stated that the beast was probably a member of "a new species". Here we have what is quite possibly the first mention of the beast in a cryptozoological light.

La bete as she was called ,would mainly victimise women and children. The victims would be found with with their hearts and vital organs ripped out and throat wounds were on nearly all of the victims.
The first reprted encounter happened when a young woman was tending her flock of sheep. She saw this beast and her dogs were that frightened by it they ran away in fear. It was only her livestock of cows that stopped the beast attacking and it was pushed away by the horns of the cows.
Every effort was made to hunt this creature down, but every attempt failed and King Louis XV took a great interest in this case and sent his own men out to join in with the hunt for La Bette(French for the beast).
Many explanations of the nature of what this beast could be ranged from a mutated wolf to something of a prehistoric nature, some even thought it could be a werewolf.
In the three years that she terrorized the area, she had taken the lives of over 100 people. On at least 5 occasions beasts rumored to have been La Bête ranging from large wolves to a baboon-like animal were killed but in all cases except the last, a not very formidable deformed wolf-like creature killed in June 1767, she recommenced killing shortly afterwards. For example, on 16th September 1764 a wolf known as Le Loup de Pradels was killed and assumed to be La Bête. She took only until the 26th to kill a girl at Thorts and prove the assumption wrong. Following the death of a little girl on an unlucky 13th - only her bonnet and clogs were ever found - La Bête was reported shot in an abbey estate by a M. Antoine as Le Loup de Chazes on 21st September 1765 but was seen at Marsillac on 26th, 27th and 28th of that month. She started a new two year killing career on 21st December, the shortest day of the year and a long Silent Night for little Agnes Mourges. The winter wind hid a very sharp bite indeed, and that Christmas cost Agnes more than the usual arm and a leg, 'insufficient remains for burial' , not enough to fill even a small stocking. La Bête had herself a merry little Christmas and stopped the carol singers from making their usual killing because nobody dared open doors barricaded against her. Snowy New Year 1765 yielded, for example, the head of little Marie Jeanne Rousset of Milienettes, recognizable only by her staring eyes, everything else being cleanly gnawed away. One poor woman, over 60 years old, nick-named La Sarabande, after the triple-tempo Spanish dance, could find no grass for her cow , her only possession - because of the deep snow. She led it to a marshy area, where sometimes a little greenery penetrated through. La Sarabande’s body was ambushed for three days but the crafty la Bête did not return. She liked marshy areas because her agility and relatively light weight enabled easy escape from mounted pursuers, whom she often deliberately led into mires and left floundering.

on 6th September 1764 at Estrets. A woman was tending her humble cottage garden when La Bête seized her by the throat, beginning with her usual appertite for blood ( sucked, not stirred) and did not cease until neighbors armed with axes, sickles and forks arrived. The woman died but La Bête, having enjoyed her liquid refreshment, lived on.

Three years later the monster was finally killed at the Sogne d'Aubert by a hermit named Jean Chastel.

So in conclusion this beast, could have been a number of things, but no one has ever been able to determine just what.

And so my answer is NOT SURE

I've also got to go with wolf- dog hybrid. Has anyone else checked out the legend part on the dvd The Brotherhood of the Wolf?

I believe it could possible be a disporportional hynea, or a large feral leopard, or panther

i voted new species. what can i say.

I believe that perhaps it was some sort of imported animal such as a lion but who knows maybe it was an aborattion that naturally occured.

I think the beast was a wolf- dog hybrid.

Didn't they have an Animal X on it?

I missed it - did they say what they thought it was?

I'm all for the hyena theory.

GO COWS!!!

I saw the Animal X show on it. They theorized that it was a wolf-dog hybrid with an EXTREMELY rare, we're talking 10,000,000,000 to 1 genetic mutation that caused it to have near-human intelligence.

Near-human intelligence or a human hand guiding it?

Tia's got you there. You left out the bit where the Animal-X crew theorized that if it was a wolf-dog hybrid, it could have been trained to attack on command by a couple of people who were around the area where most of the attacks occured. I'll go see if I can dig up their names...

Edit: To quote myself:

I love animal X although usually miss it when its on

Included on The Brotherhood of the Wolf dvd, is a semi documentry by a wolf expert who also talks about the things you've pointed out MadEyePixie.

It's one of the theories I believe to be more true.

oh wow i have that dvd but have never watched the documentary i will have to do so.

I've always thought this to be one good case for a real werewolf, but the Animal X documentary really made a strong case for the Beast being a wolf-dog hybrid(or several actually) trained to kill by a father and son of some nobility or wealth that lived in the area. The father in fact helped in one of the hunts, but he was actually psychotic and was either anti-monarchy, and the Beast was supposed to be their way of making the king look foolish and/or satisfy their twisted bloodlust. Like the Tigon, wolf-dog hybrids are prone to gigantism and are especially vicious, plus they said on Animal X that these hybrids many times have tails with little hair on them as the beast was reported to have. So much as i want the Beast to be a werewolf, i have to conced that it was probably one or two trained wold/dog hybrids.

I've done some research into the different breeds of dogs around at the time and picked one I believe could have been used. The description of the dog at the time are different to how they appear today though. That is something to keep in mind when reading the below.

These dogs are known to be highly agressive and need a firm owner to control them. Imagine one of these under the control of a nutter.

The Catahoula Leopard Dog's roots date back over 400 years, to the period of Spanish Exploration of the New World, specifically the Gulf Coast and southern portions of the East Coast of the United States. On these expeditions the Spaniards were accompanied by "war dogs", believed to have been the Mastiff and Greyhound. These dogs would assist in hunting, guarding the camps, and battle. Some of these dogs were wounded or left behind and were captured by the Native Americans of the region. It is believed by historians that these dogs may have bred with the red wolf, a species native to that area. These wolf-like dogs became the companions and protectors of the Native Americans.

About a century later the French, during expeditions along the mouth of the Mississippi River, became intrigued with these strange-looking dogs with haunting light eyes. The French found that the wolf-like dogs had the ability to successfully hunt game in the swamp because of several characteristics including a keen sense of smell and webbed feet. The dogs could also easily retrieve cattle which had wandered into marshy areas. The French had brought with them their own dogs, known today as the Beauceron. The Beauceron dates back to the mid 1500's and was originally used to hunt wild boar. It is believed that in an attempt to create an even better hunter, protector, companion, and herder the French crossed the Beauceron with these wolf-like dogs. The Catahoula Leopard Dog is the descendant of that crossing.

Can you imagine one of these wolf-type dogs crossed with a pure wolf.

It's probably important to point out that La Beté style killings only fully stopped in 1956, conisidently the same year a festival was held in memory of the Beast.

Also, linking this with there being TWO beasts killed, i'm assuming it was a naturally evolved species, and has continued to survive into the mid 20th century.

My view is that it is a member of the canine family and quite possibly a native to the region, longer than we'd expect.

Can anyone think of any economic growth or some such that would prompt a change in behaviour? (i mean around the 1760s)

a wolf dog hybrid seems the most logical.

I totally agree! Even nowadays in some regions of France there are still reports of encounters with big, often dark- haired beasts, not similar to cats or wolves!

I've once read a report of a ex-soldier, who saw such beast with his freinds, and it happened around 1997 -98. I cannot find it anymore, so I'll describe the case in my own words. The man (about 30 at the time) and a couple of his friends were in France and went on a camp in region of Auvergne. Some local people, when they heard that the tourists are going to night-camp in the forrest, were shocked, and started to curse them heavily. One local said that they shouldn't hope anyone is going to help them if they get in trouble. The tourists thought nothing of it (they had guns and flares) and set their camp near a lake surrounded by forrest. It was getting dark, they started a fire and watched the sun go down. Suddenly, a big wolf-like, furry thing emerged from the woods in very fast LEAPS, went straight for the campers, and stopped only at 20-30 meters from terrified people. The man claimed that he saw many wolves, bears and other wild animals in his live, but that thing didn't resemble any of them at all. It was much bigger than a wolf, with WIDE, HEAVILY BUILT CHEST, POINTED EARS and LONG TAIL. He also said that it stared at them fearlessly, and he, a firm rationalist, a he-man type, began to tremble in horror. It ran away only when they shot a red flare at it. He said he will never forget that stare, which was both ferocious and curious, and to this day he often has nightmares about that beast.

There is a theory that in prehistoric caves in the region of Lozere something form the past survived... It could have been a prehistoric hayena, or a new species which developed from it. Giant prehistoric hyenas are known from many locations and ancient European cave art clearly depicts Spotted Hyenas. Plus eye-witnesses of La Bete attacks claimed that they often heard it's terrifying LAUGH, and for me it is a very significant clue. And la Bete was last seen heading for a complex of those caves located in Lozere.

Anyway, if someone knows of any other contemporary encounters, please share!