Photos of dead (thing)? washing up in Montauk LI. Three Live Sightings Reported

Montauk “Monsters” - At Least Three Live Sightings Reported.Hybrid Dog? Raccoon? What?© 2008 by Linda Moulton Howe “The one I saw had a longer snout or beakor whatever you want to call it.” - Sean (last name withheld) “Lavey Fater saw a surfer bring one to shore, near Ditch Plains. ‘It was hairless and gross. The surfer said he had no ideawhat it was, but that he threw it in the dunes because he didn't want to be surfing next to it.’” - Newsday.comMontauk (large yellow circle) is only 1.5 miles from the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (smaller yellow circle), also known as PIADC, a U. S. Dept. of Agriculturefacility “dedicated to the study of foreign animal diseases. Since 1954, the center has had the goal of protecting America's livestock from foreign animal diseases.” August 3, 2008 Montauk, Long Island, New York - On July 29, 2008, a photo of a strange, unidentified animal that appeared to have a beak, long, thin paws and the body of a dog was posted on the blog Gawker. The location of the dead creature's body was given as Montauk, Long Island, New York, and the photographer was listed as Jenna Hewitt. Jenna and two of her girl friends, Rachel Goldbert and Courtney Fruin. The girls thought they found the creature and took their photograph on or around July 13, 2008.Newsday.com found other eyewitnesses who said they had seen a similar creature alive, including a description of a “longer snout or beak.”August 1, 2008, Newsday, New York: “Elizabeth Barbeiri said her family saw it about a mile east of Gurney's Inn in Montauk, July 14, 2008. And Ryan Kelso, via iPhone, said he spotted it -- alive! -- in the Montauk dunes. ‘It looked about the size of an average fox, gray in color, eyes like a mole, hairless and was breathing quite heavily,’ he wrote. ‘Needless to say we were freaked out by this discovery and fled the area quickly.’Lavey Fater saw a surfer bring one to shore, near Ditch Plains. ‘It was hairless and gross. The surfer said he had no idea what it was, but that he threw it in the dunes because he didn't want to be surfing next to it.’Keith found something last week in Greenport; Chris found one a month ago at Jones Beach east of Field 6. (‘The one I saw had a longer snout or beak or whatever you want to call it.’) Sean said he buried one, 3 feet deep, in South Jamesport.” Another group of eyewitnesses included Ryan O'Shea of Brooklyn, New York, and Christina Pampalone, of East Northport. Christina used Ryan's camera to take several photographs of the dead animal from different belly angles than Jenna Hewitt's which was from the back and emphasized the “beak” mouth that in Christina's photographs looks more like a dog's teeth. Ryan O'Shea told Newsday, “Everybody I showed our pictures to said it looks like a dead dog. But looking at the claws, and at the teeth in the front, it looked like it could be something else, something vicious. I kept thinking, ‘Boy, I hope its mother isn't around.’” O'Shea said the body was small, about 2.5 to 3 feet long. Animal Planet's Jeff Corwin, a wildlife expert, told FOX News that the beak was “actually canine teeth. What we have is a racoon.” But other contacted scientists have not been so certain and the mystery persists because the girls said one of their friends took the dead body they photographed in a bag to his home where it has disintegrated to slimy bones, waiting for more scientific study. Digital Camera Photos Around July 13, 2008, On Beach between Montauk and East Hampton, Long Island, New York Photograph and cropped close-up below © 2008 by Jenna Hewitt.Above image and two below© 2008 by Christina Pampalone.Raccoon skull. If anyone has any further information about these animals, alive or dead, please email: earthfiles. More Information:For further information about unusual animals, please see Earthfiles reports below in the Earthfiles Archive: • 11/02/2007 — Cuero, Texas "Chupacabras" Was Mangy Coyote• 08/04/2007 — More Strange Animals in Texas• 06/13/2007 — Into the Unknown with George Noory• 05/25/2007 — Update: Part 1, Unusual Animal Deaths• 05/25/2007 — Updated: Part 2 - New "Chupacabras" Attacks in Chile and Cattle Mutilations in Argentina• 08/31/2005 — What Is the Strange Texas "Chicken-Eater"?• 06/23/2005 — Updated: More Than 3,000 Unusual Animal Deaths Reported in Argentina and Chile Since 2002• 10/23/2004 — Veterinarian Examines Pollok, Texas Carcass• 10/20/2004 — Pollok, Texas "Chupa": Strange Mammal or Mangy Coyote?• 10/14/2004 — Another "Chupacabra" Shot in Texas• 07/31/2004 — Strange Animal Shot by Elmendorf, Texas Farmer• 07/19/2002 — Unusual Animal Deaths and Unidentified Aerial Lights Persist in Argentina• 06/15/2002 — Cattle Mutilations In LaPampa, Argentina• 06/01/1999 — Puncture Wounds On Dogs In Woodleaf, North CarolinaWebsites:Plum Island Animal Disease Center (USDA): http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=19400000 Credits 1999 - 2008 by Linda Moulton Howe..www.earthfiles.comearthfiles@...