More OOPA: Shark and Kangaroo

What is this tropical shark doing so far north in December? Please click for a larger image.

The out-of-place animals (OOPA) are popping up all over the map. A manatee was recently captured off Texas. It is the third out-of-place manatee discovered since last August, far from Florida (the other two were found hundreds of miles inland in New York State and Tennessee). An eight-foot crocodile was captured on Grand Cayman Island. Are they early warning signs of something? Now comes more.

There is a buzz, this week, over in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (a town known for its high levels of symbolism as the "home" of Punxsutawney Phil, the Groundhog Day groundhog). Folks are talking about an out-of-place animal that showed up near there on Friday, December 29, 2006.

Would you believe a shark three and a half feet long? While the shark that washed up on the shores of Mahoning Creek was at first thought to be a hammerhead shark, it turned out to specifically be a bonnethead shark or shovelhead (Sphyrna tiburo).

Bonnetheads are generally about one meter long, being the smallest hammerhead shark, so this one at 42 inches in length was full-grown. Bonnetheads do range as far north as New England in the summer and are common in inshore waters of some parts of the coastal South (Georgia and the Carolinas). But during the winter, this active tropical shark is suppose to be in the waters near the Equator.

This one was first seen, according to Punxsutawney Borough Police Officer Heath Zeitler, by members of the borough Public Works crew who spotted the shark along the bank on the afternoon of December 29th, just below the Mahoning Shadow Trail near the intersection of South Gilpin and Cypress Streets.

Zeitler, nevertheless, ventured some guesses for the media. She said, "it might have been disposed of by some who had caught it while fishing elsewhere, or had previously kept it in a personal aquarium – a very large personal aquarium."

By the way, since they like to swim in groups of 5 to 15 other bonnetheads, where is this one’s friends? I hasten to add, only one attack on humans has ever been recorded.

Meanwhile, another out-of-place animal report seems definitely linked to an escaped pet.

The mystery kangaroo, seemingly from nowhere, dashed out in front of a car on Tuesday night, January 2, 2007, and was killed on State Rt. 66 near Hebron, Connecticut. Yes, this happened on a Route 66, highly symbolic in the States, on many levels, as the classic Rt. 66 (from Illinois to the American SW) has often been experienced as the classic roadway deco for such out-of-place-stories. Willie the Wallaby was an escapee from its Marlborough pet owner, and had hopped two miles to its fate on "America’s Highway." For stories about this news, see here and here.

Trivia for the Day: When is the last time that there has been no recorded snowfall in New York City and Philadelphia, this late in the winter? Never.

Thanks to “fallofrain” for a clarification, shame on me, of which I needed to be reminded, despite my Illinois background.

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.

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