Montauk Monster

[bugmankeith]

If anyone here lives on Long Island NY (like me) i'm sure you watched the news and heard about the Montauk Monster. It washed up on the beach in Montauk and nobody knows what it is.

Jeff Corwin thinks it's a decomposing body of a raccoon. Some think it is some sort of creature from Plum Island which is an animal research lab and located very close to where this washed up. And some say it's a hoax.

To me it looks like a plucked chicken with teeth, but it could very well just be a decomposed raccoon or fox who died at the beach and was in the water for a few days.

Youtube video on it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnYy93n69JY

 

[Cjacques]

This is a raccoon.

 

[bugmankeith]

I should mention the animal could have had mange and that is why it looked bald in the first place.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

I'm still going with "perfectly mundane animal that looks funky due to being bloated and decomposed after floating in the water for a while."

 

[Hedorah99]

Its a dead raccoon. Its been in the water long enough to bloat and lose its fur. Something else was also gnawing on its snout, exposing it and making it lose its upper dentition.

 

[ErgoProxy]

Dang...and here I thought someone snapped a photos of the "Ex" suntanning on the beach... :?

 

[K-TRAIN]

its either a small to medium size dog or a raccoon. if someone can get a closer picture of its exposed jaw it can be decided whether its a dog or raccoon based on its back teeth. just looking at it makes me think raccoon though, the body shape is similar (even though its decomposing)

 

[Martin H.]

Hi,

oh, the summer slump started? =;-)

A better photo of this "monster":

http://www.animachina.com/images/whatisit/montauk_monster_HIRES_1.jpg

Cheers,
Martin

 

[pitbulllady]

It's a 'coon. I've had to skin raccoons before, so I'm familiar with what a 'coon looks like minus all that fur. The molars are too pointy for dog teeth, and look just like raccoon teeth. The snout has rotted away and the front upper teeth are gone. Of course, the fur has fallen out due to decay, and the body is bloated. What appears to be a band tied around the right foreleg is actually skin, which has rolled up. I've seen identical injuries to animals' legs caused by steel leghold traps, and the animal biting its own flesh in an attempt to escape. This reminds me of the so-called "Maine Mutant" found dead alongside a country road in Maine, which was circulated all over the 'net as some sort of werewolf or monster or impossible hybrid, when it was nothing but a dead, decomposing Chow-mix dog. People are so ignorant when it comes to animals or biological processes, it's pathetic. I guess that's part of the price we pay for becoming more and more urban and getting away from our rural, agricultural roots.

pitbulllady

 

[bugmankeith]

Ah, that new picture helped alot! Yes, I now see the webbed front feet and one patch if fur that is striped.

My 2nd guess was a seal pup (when I didnt see the fur color) but I dont think there are any living by there so a raccoon seems correct.

Poor thing being called a monster.

 

[pitbulllady]

Ah, that new picture helped alot! Yes, I now see the webbed front feet and one patch if fur that is striped.

My 2nd guess was a seal pup (when I didnt see the fur color) but I dont think there are any living by there so a raccoon seems correct.

Poor thing being called a monster.

A long thin tail was clearly visible in the first pic to be circulated, so that ruled out a seal right off the bat. Elongated "fingers" were also clearly visible on the right front paw in the first pic, and 'coons do have rather human-like hands, which are quite dexterous. In the second pic, many of the typical raccoon anatomical features come into view. The teeth, though, for someone who's seen my fair share of raccoon skulls, were the dead give-away(no pun intended). My guess is that someone trapped the animal, killed it, allowed it to decompose in their yard, then placed the carcass on a beach to photograph it so they could create a stir on the internet, then removed it and probably disposed of it, since it was probably pretty stinky by this point. People are so desperate to believe in monsters that they would rather believe that a rotting carcass HAS to be some unknown and mysterious, possibly sinister, creature, that the mere notion that it could be something as mundane as a trapped raccoon or a mongrel dog that had an unfortunate encounter with 3,000 pounds of metal and fiberglass moving at 60 miles per hour seems almost insulting. Like a few months ago, when this woman in TX found a dead, hairless creature on her property, she just KNEW she'd found a dead "Chupacabra"! Anyone who's been around dogs long enough, or wild animals long enough, knew she'd found a coyote or dog that was afflicted with severe Sarcoptic, or "blue" mange(known as "scabies" when it infects humans). DNA analysis proved it to be a coyote x Mexican wolf crossbreed. On a recent discussion of the popular History Channel tv series, "MonsterQuest", I got into a debate with other members over the identity of a "beast" in NC that supposedly killed a chained Pit Bull. The dog was found bleeding from her mouth, ears, nose and rectum-no cuts or marks on her body, mind you, but everyone, including her owner, were convinced that some "beast", possibly a big cat of some sort, had to have done it. Can you say, "blunt-force trauma"? How about "poison"? Or better yet, "Canine Parvovirus"? These are things that cause internal hemorrhaging with bleeding from body orifices. No one wants to believe in something that mundane or commonplace, though, when there are monsters to be blamed.

pitbulllady

 

[hairmetalspider]

This is actually really sad to see.

It's also sad that our society has THIS much time on their hands...An entire news story about a decomposing animal? Cripes. They'd love Wisconsin.

 

[xchondrox]

I set that pic as my back ground, recycle bin is right by his bum

Im still holding onto the hope that its a baby werewolf! Dont you people know that racoons have masks!!!Duh

 

[ErgoProxy]

This is actually really sad to see.

It's also sad that our society has THIS much time on their hands...An entire news story about a decomposing animal? Cripes. They'd love Wisconsin.

Home of the HODAG!!!!

http://www.hodag.com/

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

I couldn't figure out the connection between a rotting animal carcass and a country music festival (apart from the fact that I find both rather repulsive), but a quick Wiki search solved the mystery for me.
The Hodag

 

[arachyd]

We frequently find floating, bloated 'coon in the bay or washed up on the beach. They get on the clam and fishing boats at night while they are docked. I guess they are attracted by the smell. Then they just jump off (or are helped off) the next day when the boat is out at sea. That is a 'coon.