C2C’s Cryptid Canid

Posted by: Loren Coleman on March 19th, 2008

I’m playing catch-up from material published during the days I was out along the wilds of the St. Johns River.

One item that has surfaced is a new mystery photograph of a strange-looking but familiar animal.

Over at Coast to Coast, a image of an unusual canid (dog, coyote or wolf related mammal) was photographed along the Milwaukee River and then recently posted. The picture has raised several questions about what the animal might be.

c2ccanid1

Is it a coyote with mange? Does the underlying musculature look too bulky for a coyote with this illness?

c2ccanid2

Is it a well-fed coyote? A cross-bred wolf-dog mix? Or a coydog?

coydog

This is a widely disseminated Internet photo of a coydog.

Or is the C2C picture of a truly mystery canid?

Shunka Warakin

Perhaps a Shunka Warak’in? Above is the Shunka Warak’in photograph from my book, Cryptozoology A to Z.

c2ccanid2

Close-up of the Milwaukee River Cryptid Canid.

What I find most intriguing about the animal shown in the new photo is the configuration of the ears, which stick out from the side of the mystery canid’s head. Something seems a little off about them.

What are your opinions?

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.


15 Responses to “C2C’s Cryptid Canid”

  1. jules responds:

    Almost looks a bit like a hyena.
    Strong rear legs, tail hanging down,
    large shoulder area.
    Strange.

  2. Samson77 responds:

    Beaver in a rubber suit

  3. Samson77 responds:

    coybeaver

  4. Guerrierinconnu responds:

    My God, this animal looks terrific!

    very interesting shot!

  5. otonabee responds:

    Looks to me like someone has taken the face of one animal and placed it on the photo of another

  6. Samson77 responds:

    coypitbull

  7. omne51 responds:

    I agree with otonabee. It looks to me like the body is feline, a large cat of some type, with a canid’s head photo-shopped onto the body.

    Definitely a very nice looking animal, however!

  8. fmurphy1970 responds:

    Very strange indeed! Does look a bit like a hyena, except that the ears of a hyena are almost oval and stick up vertically. Wolves, dingos and other wild canid species also have their ears sticking up vertically too. Although when a wolf is in defensive mode, or feels threatened it can lower it’s ears to a horizontal position. See picture of an agressive wolf here:
    http://www.blackfive.net/main/images/2007/09/28/angry_wolf.jpg

  9. maxmahoney responds:

    Sorry but to me this looks like an animal such as a wolf or coydog or even a wolfdog with a severe case of mange!!! Mange is a parasitic infestation of the skin of animals. Common symptoms include hair loss, itching and inflammation, all of which are caused by microscopic mites. Mange is most commonly found in dogs and other canines, but it can occur in other domestic and wild animals. …

  10. alandp responds:

    I got the same impression as omne51. When I first glanced at the photo, I thought it looked like a big cat.

  11. CryptoMafia responds:

    I have to agree that the photo looks a bit fake.

    An animal so elusive probably would have darted off at the first sign of humans, and there is a big, noisy looking building in the background, and it seems to be looking right at the camera.

    Didn’t the shunka warak’in mount recently have some DNA testing?
    Any word on the results?

    However, I hope it is real. Very interesting looking body structure.

  12. MountDesertIslander responds:

    Do you really think that picture is photo shopped? I spent some time looking at the lighting and the patterns in the fur and got the impression it was a legit photo. Even though the head of this creature looks way too small for the body that is the only thing that looks overtly wrong. That in itself shouldn’t disqualify the photo as real. The blurring of the focus, coloring, and overall texture look consistent to me. A nice job of photo shop work if it is a hoax. A second shot, even if not as detailed, would go a long way in verifying this encounter. Hopefully the photgrapher snapped another.

    Boy there is a lesson for all of use in this digital age. If you see something, snap away.

    Comparing the Shunka Warak’in to the cryptid turns up some interesting corrolations between the two, especially in the body types and posture. It’s hard to fairly compare the heads even though the cryptid head still seems small to me. Only the hyena gives me that same impression of an undersized head.

    Really an interesting photo if real that deserves some investigation.

  13. Galea responds:

    No doubt about it, its a coyote with mange. Animals with mange look nothing like our common conceptions of them. The way the limbs are set on the body and the size of the tail rule out any sort of photo shop with a cat’s body. Thats a dog’s body for sure. The only comparison with a large cat would be the thin hair. IE the mange.

  14. jrenn responds:

    Its absolutely, without a doubt a coyote with mange.

  15. Lyndon responds:

    Yikes! It’s obvious what it is.

    It’s the Beast Of Bray Road, captured on film at last.

    Ta daaaaaaaaaaa!

Sorry. Comments have been closed.

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