“Mutant Canines” on MonsterQuest
Posted by: Loren Coleman on December 5th, 2007
On Wednesday, December 05, 2007, at 10:00 PM Eastern, with repeats overnight and in coming days and weeks, the broadcast of the “Mutant Canines” episode of MonsterQuest will occur on the History Channel. Check your local listings for time and channel.
The official description of the program hints that one of the core stories is about the Turner, Maine, “beast,” with interviews of eyewitnesses, as well as reporter Mark LaFlamme and cryptozoologist Loren Coleman.
MonsterQuest: Man’s best friend is many times our last line of defense. But something strange is killing Fido. In 2006, a rash of pets were killed in Maine and Minnesota by a beast locals describe as a mutant. But there are more than just stories, a creature was hit by a car and the body was found. This strange looking creature will be DNA tested to see what it really is. And two MonsterQuest winter expeditions will be launched to trap other dog killers still at large.
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.
will be watching, love the show, fan of anything crypto.
im realy looking forward to watching tonight new segment mutant canines on monsterquest. it should be very interesting. thanks bill green.
Just finished watching the Mutant Canines episode… while not the most “sensational” program I’ve seen, it had two awesome things going for it; welcomed appearances by Loren Coleman AND the Amazing Mohawk DNA Scientist Guy! 😀
I think it’s safe to say that “MonsterQuest” is easily on par with the classic “In Search Of…” program as top notch crypto TV.
Well done, everyone!
underwhelming….woof.
Saw the episode and loved it. Love the suspense when the camera reveals that there is a “beast” behind the horse carcass and later revealed that it is (or might) be a….
Nice to see you on the tube Loren. Stranger than mutant canines, I thought it was stranger that all the witnesses were named Leo.
I think the series is great, but the way they discussed the Maine “mutant” was a bit sensationalistic. They didn’t reveal that it was really just a dog until the very end of the show, but I guess they felt they had to do that to keep people watching. I had never heard the theory that the thing might actually be a Dire Wolf. I wouldn’t have believed that for a second about the Maine mutant, but I supposethere is a slight chance that these other sightings could be Dire Wolves. After all, the Dire wolf died out only 10,000 years ago, that’s practically yesterday! Is it known whether they hunted in packs? All these sightings have been of lone animals, if I remember correctly.
I really enjoyed this show, and the previous ones I’ve managed to catch, but let’s be honest it done a little hokey. it’s produced, with the camera cut scenes of scientists working and the suspenseful music, in a way that borders on sensationalism and definitely comes off campy.
That being said I love it, it’s one of my favorite shows.
About this particular episide though, I was glad they mentioned hybridization, but I don’t think they delved into it enough. Whatever people are seeing is probably not one single mystery animal, it is something different and unique in each of the areas where these sightings are taking place. We have no knowledge how a feral dogds will interact and interbreed with existing canid populations, nor what would come of that intermixing.
It stands to reason that if a domesticated dogs went wild, the larger dogs would fare the best. Anything small would be prey. So if there is an emerging new species (or breed) from this feral intermixing it further stands to reason that they would show an increase in size.
If hybrids are involved, they are probably wolves crossed with some sort of mastiff or Great Dane, that would explain the unusual appearance reported by witnesses. If you cross a wolf and, say, a husky or malamute, the result is not that differnt-looking from a wolf, but if a wolf and a mastiff or similar breed mated, the result would look quite unlike any known wild canid.
An interesting point to those that think like myself that the “Turner beast” was a hybrid wolf dog, that the show fails to mention, is that there is a wolf/dog sanctuary not that far away in Chattam.
Loki wolf sanctuary has roughly 95 animals, some of which are full wolves and the majority which are hybrids. They do escape from time to time as the operator will admit.
I wish that the DNA would not have decayed. It would have been wonderful to determine at least whether the dog was a hybrid or not.
Oh, well…..
I disagree with you, Emonix, that the “eagle” part of the episode was great. To my mind, It was shameful manipulation of people’s expectations—a form of “padding” to keep people interested. I can understand the reasons behind it, but it is still wrong to me.
As usual, you rocked, Loren!!!
I’m liking monster quest a lot better than the josh gates show…His show seems way too scripted.