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I was hiking with my dog about 6 miles northeast of Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. I was carrying water, my still camera, some food, a compass, a knife and my phone (which had no service in that area). I never traveled through this remote desert before and I hoped to capture some photos of the spectacular landscape. I saw the incredible carcass after we hiked about 2 1/2 hours and were about to turn around to head back to the truck. My dog wouldn’t go near it, which was unusual, as he always finds dead animals eagerly and I have to call him off.

I began to take a picture and the battery died after I snapped one frame. It was fully charged when I left that morning. I knew this was a significant find and I wanted to collect the specimen in lieu of the lack of photographic evidence to document the creature, but there was no way I could carry it back to the car. I decided I would come back with the means to do so, a large backpack with some ropes to tie it on with. As I couldn’t record the spot with my phone’s gps, I did my best to remember the spot and I marked the trail going back so I was sure I could retrace my steps.

I returned the next day with a friend from Taos, determined to bring the animal home. We easily found the trail that I had marked out the day before. It was gone. We couldn’t find a trace.

About the creature itself, it was much larger than any fox, more the size of a large coyote of wolf, about 48″ long. It had a pronounced and extremely long snout, like a tapir or platypus. The most unusual features were the bumps along the spine and the approx. 4-5 inch long “sabre-tooth”. I could see only a single one of these large fangs. The spine bumps seemed to extend out from the vertebra in line with the ribs. They had the same short dense fur that covered the body (definitely not the hairless mange dogs commonly referred to as chupacabra). It had some longer coarse hair on it’s haunches. It’s feet were oddly shaped, more like hooves, but with the features of canid paws, toes and nails. It’s legs were long and extended, especially the lower rear legs. The gaping hole in the ribcage was the only visible wound on the body and looking into it, I could see no remnant of any internal organs. There were no insects on the carcass.

I believe it is possibly a previously unclassified canine, perhaps distorted by the process of mummification. This was something extremely rare and unusual and I feel privileged to have seen and recorded it.

Animal experts are baffled by a small, hairless creature found dead on the golf course at Runaway Bay in Wise County.

Maintenance worker Tony Potter picked it up Wednesday morning.  To him it looked a little like a raccoon with no hair.

“Definitely not a dog,” he said.

Potter showed the remains to several people and then took it to a veterinarian’s office in Bridgeport.  He said no one there could identify it, either.

“My wife wouldn’t let me keep it in the freezer,” he said, so Potter gave it to the Center for Animal Research and Education, a big cat sanctuary in Bridgeport.

The creature is dark brown, about 18 inches long, with a black nose and a face resembling a rodent — but with long canine teeth jutting from the upper and lower jaws.

The front claws have narrow digits about a half-inch long, with long, narrow nails.

Whatever this is has powerful rear legs “almost like a kangaroo,” according to CARE research assistant Sherre Sacher.   She said the front claws look like they’re made for digging.

The tail is like that of an opossum, but not quite as long.

“It’s really exciting,” Sacher said.   “I can’t wait to find out what it is.”

The center hopes to hear from experts who would like to examine the animal. Some who have seen it wonder if it’s the legendary chupacabra, an animal that supposedly sucks the blood of goats.

If nothing else, one thing appears certain:  This is the ugliest bogey ever seen on the Runaway Bay golf course.

Source: kens5