Maine Mystery Beast

[SEANÁNCONRÍ]

My mom know Mark LaFlamme very well. So recently we have been talking a lot about the creature. I live in Auburn, Maine and when Mark first published the story we ahd already come up with theories like "Its a dog-bear hybrid' or one that my dad did 'Its a deformed pitbull.' But anyway, whatever it may be, the point is.......Well I guess there is no point I just wanted to post.

[~Onyx~]

Well I guess there is no point I just wanted to post.

I appreciate your honesty, lol. The question I have is: Do you, being someone who is "close' to this story(even if it is residually), believe that this animal is ANYTHING other than what it "appears" to be?

[The Carnivore]

Merged together all three topics

Thanks SaRuMaN. but in the meantime, Ive found 2 more.

Edit: Welcome, SEANÁNCONRÍ. Welcome to city 17! Anyway, if you havent played half-life 2, you wont get it. But anyways, Welcome to UM. And for some reason, my bro says hi...

Edited August 22, 2006 by sadistic jellyfish of doom

[SunDogDayze]

I really dont understand all the confusion. It's a dog. Specifically, a chow mix. I guess technically, that word could be confused with 'hybrid' but there is nothing wolf about this animal. The snout is short, wayyy too short to look lupine in any way, but it IS the right size for a chow. (All you have to do is google image search chowchow)

The 'claw' on its paw IS in fact a claw, but its called a dew claw, and it is basically a useless extra digit, and most dogs don't even have them. The nail on the dew claw is exremely long, but let's consider the fact that most domesticated dogs either do not have this dew claw, or they are clipped. The nails on the forward digits are shorter because they are 'filed' down when running on concrete or digging. The dew claw is not used in those activities, so of course it will be overgrown.

If you zoom in on the head, you will see a dark gray colored shape coming from between the teeth and falling down. That is the tongue, and it is a blackish color, which is one trait that chows and chow mixes are known for. Wholly or partly black tongues.

As far as the eyes bulging unnaturally, it's a dead animal..its bloated..I dont know the specifics of what goes on in a decomposing body, but I would imagine that this is part of a normal process of decomposition.

I am actually not completely convinced that this is a 'feral' animal either. For a chow, the hair is shorter than usual, but it does look like what a domesticated chow (or chow mix) looks like after receiving a 'summer haircut' that has grown out a bit. And, this being the end of summer, that would be around the length expected.

Also, although it is hard to even spot the ears at first, when you zoom in on the close-up of the head, you can see the ears. They appear to have been cropped, which is a rather brutal procedure that some people do to these (and other breeds of) dogs, in which the ears are cut to make them shorter and more triangular. It used to be done to prevent farming or fighting dogs from getting their ears torn off by other animals, but is mainly an accessory now, to make dogs look a certain way. Cropped ears, especially on a chow, are easy to spot because the hair around the bottom of the ear is very long in comparison with the ear.

This would indicate that the dog was not born to a stray mother and raised without any human contact (which is the definition of feral) but that it was actually someone's pet chow.

I am just as open-minded as anyone, and would love to hear about a new animal, never before seen, or any other anomaly, for that matter. But to me, this is just an example of hype making people see what isnt there, or not see what is. I honestly cant believe how much press this bloated, mangy Fido has gotten.

[SEANÁNCONRÍ]

I appreciate your honesty, lol. The question I have is: Do you, being someone who is "close' to this story(even if it is residually), believe that this animal is ANYTHING other than what it "appears" to be?

Well.... Me and my family just think its a hybrid, aswell as most people we know. Now here is something I just want to point out. I will admit that I still play the Pokemon gameboy games. In the Hoenn region there is a pokemon that looks much like the beast. I just wanted to point that out. I thought it was kinda funny at first.

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/d/d4/Poochyena.png

Edited August 24, 2006 by SEANÁNCONRÍ