Christina Eyth of Fairfield Township, Pennsylvania helped rescue a mysterious creature but isn’t real sure what it is. Wildlife experts can’t tell either. Whatever it is, the critter escaped back into the wild.
The creature was cold
Rescuing any creature with uncertain origins can be a little sketchy. “I wasn’t quite sure, but…” Christina Eyth relates.
She did know “it was scared and it was cold and all I could think about was this animal needed help.” The mystery began when she noticed paw prints outside her door.
At first, the Adams county resident thought her neighbor’s dog got loose, so she followed the tracks “and found a small dog-like animal outside her basement door.”
Whatever the poor creature was, “it was so scared and cold and shivering.”
It looks a whole lot like a coyote and it also looks convincingly like a dog. There is a pretty good chance that the creature is a little of both.
Not taking any chances either way, Ms. Eyth “coaxed it into her basement and called TJ’s Rescue Hideaway to help.”
Test and go from there
Even the experts are stumped. TJ’s sent Morgan Barron, of WildLife Works Mount Pleasant, to get involved because she’s “a certified wildlife rehabilitator.” After getting a good look at the creature, she’s reserving judgement on an ID.
“I honestly can’t definitively say what it is,” she humbly admits. “Behavior-wise he’s very timid, very scared and not aggressive at all, which makes me lean toward dog.” It could still carry rabies. First step is “get genetic testing done and go from there.”
Barron took the creature back to the rescue shelter and started treating it for mange. “Since he arrived, he has done little more than crouch in the back of his cage and simply follow Morgan with his eyes. He never acted aggressive or distressed.”
Whatever it is, the animal may be timid but it’s impatient and couldn’t tolerate the quarantine lockdown until the DNA test comes back. It escaped the rescue shelter “by chewing through a window.”
The experts were “stunned and mortified” to find the mystery creature gone after about a week in custody. They told Facebook how “devastated” they were to find it missing. When Morgan Barron opened up in the morning, she discovered “the animal’s cage was destroyed and the room had been trashed. The animal had managed to force open the window, and subsequently tore a hole through the screen.”
They “had him for about a week, during which time he ate nutritious food and received treatment for his mange and secondary infections. We can only guess he was starting to feel somewhat better and decided it was time to go.”
