Incredible footage has revealed a mysterious beast stalking the woods of northern Minnesota, leaving researchers baffled as to what species it could be.
The Wolf Voyageurs Project, a research group at the University of Minnesota, shared incredible camera trap footage on Facebook that showed an unusual canine roaming the wild.
The sighting has sparked intense debate over whether the animal is a rare wolf-dog hybrid, with researchers saying they have never seen anything like it.
The animal, described as “wolf-like” and “dog-like,” was captured on camera several times between the winter and March 20.
“This was one of the strangest sightings we had this winter,” the group’s Jack London posted on Facebook on August 20th. “A wolf- or dog-like canid that wanders around the area. It looks like some kind of mix between a wolf and a malamute or something.”
Incredible footage has revealed a mysterious beast stalking the woods of northern Minnesota, leaving researchers baffled as to what species it is.
The Voyageurs Wolf Project, a research group at the University of Minnesota, shared incredible trail camera footage on Facebook showing an unusual canine roaming the wild.
The mysterious creature has been spotted more than 10 times in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem, traveling mostly alone.
However, on two occasions he was seen in the company of adult wolves, deepening the mystery surrounding his identity.
“Our first two observations (February 29 and March 3) were of this animal and two actual adult wolves roaming in the area, but neither wolf in this pack was part of a resident pack in our area.”
‘The sequence of the three shows how different the appearance of this canid is from the wolves in our area.’
Researchers said they had never seen a “wolf” that looked like this.
The animal, described as “wolf-like” and “dog-like,” was captured on camera several times between the winter and March 20.
The mysterious creature has been spotted more than 10 times in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem, mostly traveling alone.
They are puzzled by the animal’s appearance, particularly its unusual coloring and size, and have proposed two main theories to explain the creature’s origins: a mutated wolf, making it extra large and fluffy, or a wolf-dog hybrid.
They are puzzled by the animal’s appearance, particularly its unusual coloring and size, and have proposed two main theories to explain the creature’s origins: a mutated wolf, making it especially large and fluffy, or a wolf-dog hybrid, which is a cross between a wolf and a domestic dog.
“It should be noted that we’ve never seen a ‘wolf’ that looks like this one, but we suspect this canid is either a wolf with some weird mutation that makes it super furry and extra large (seems unlikely, but we’re trying to think of options)… or it’s a wolf-dog hybrid,” London wrote.
‘Since we have not seen evidence of wolves breeding with dogs in our area nor have we heard of this occurring in northern Minnesota, we believe it is most likely that, if it is indeed a hybrid, the animal is a hybrid that was released or escaped.’
The group stressed that their speculation is just a hypothesis and there are no confirmed answers as to what the mysterious beast is and where it came from at this time.
“Of course, this is all speculation and your guess is as good as ours. I’m just trying to think of the most likely explanation. Or maybe this is the reincarnation of Buck from London in Call of the Wild.”
In April, a pack of wolf-dog hybrids terrorized a neighborhood for months, killing at least two local pets.
In April, a pack of wolf-dog hybrids in Shingeltown, California, terrorized a neighborhood for months, killing at least two other dogs belonging to residents.
Officers have already arrested at least one of the dogs, after its owner handed it over. This operation, which took place on March 25, can be seen here
The seven “wild” animals attacked and killed a medium-sized dog on March 26 and attacked again last week, local police said.
The crisis occurred in Shingeltown, California, a small town located along California State Route 44, in the foothills just below Mount Lassen.
Residents there said seeing the wandering herd was an almost daily occurrence and demanded action be taken.
Officers detained one of the dogs after its owner handed it over. In a statement, police in the town of just over 2,000 said they were investigating the incidents.
(tags to translate)dailymail