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I'm curious too! Has anyone asked the folks in the DE Forum yet? (Gonna go look.) If not, Mods is it OK to post a thread with this link in DE (maybe somebody there knows, who don't visit the Pet Forum)?
My kids put out some kind of deer food they made at school for rudulph. I heard a noise at night, look out and there he was!
Did you see it eating? If you saw it eating did it a) use its front paws to pick up the food or b) eat like a cat or dog?
LOL - last year not far from us they found a dead animal that people (people who should know better too) swore was ........ wait for it.......... a chupacabra.
(Chupacabra translates literally to "goatsucker" - it's a mythical beast that goes around killing goats. Sort of like a goat Dracula. ) They DNA tested it (isn't it nice to know where your tax dollars are going?) because "no one" could identify it. (They could have asked me. I'd have done it for free. ) It turned out to be a coyote with very bad mange so that by the time it died, it was hairless and it's skin has turned leathery - as untreated mange will do. Then leave dead, mange-ridden, furless coyote out in the TX summer sun..... and listen to the cries of "OMG, it's a chupacabra".
A nice poster in DE thinks, as tcackly has, that the description fits that of a Coatimundi and posted this great link (video of it) White-nosed_Coati (Coatimundi) on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdsnaz/4103270509 - broken link).
Apparently (unfortunately) these creatures are becoming more popular as exotic pets as well. Pretty cool images on top of results page: Google
If the things y'all saw had a long-ish snout, I, too, think this may be your critter!
Did you see it eating? If you saw it eating did it a) use its front paws to pick up the food or b) eat like a cat or dog?
LOL - last year not far from us they found a dead animal that people (people who should know better too) swore was ........ wait for it.......... a chupacabra.
(Chupacabra translates literally to "goatsucker" - it's a mythical beast that goes around killing goats. Sort of like a goat Dracula. ) They DNA tested it (isn't it nice to know where your tax dollars are going?) because "no one" could identify it. (They could have asked me. I'd have done it for free. ) It turned out to be a coyote with very bad mange so that by the time it died, it was hairless and it's skin has turned leathery - as untreated mange will do. Then leave dead, mange-ridden, furless coyote out in the TX summer sun..... and listen to the cries of "OMG, it's a chupacabra".
LOL...that scenario was the first I thought of when reading this. We too, have sightings of the elusive chupacabra all the time. Texas
A nice poster in DE thinks, as tcackly has, that the description fits that of a Coatimundi and posted this great link (video of it) White-nosed_Coati (Coatimundi) on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdsnaz/4103270509 - broken link).
Apparently (unfortunately) these creatures are becoming more popular as exotic pets as well. Pretty cool images on top of results page: Google
If the things y'all saw had a long-ish snout, I, too, think this may be your critter!
If I could not identify a local animal, I would contact my local fish and game authorities. . . they will know what is native in the region, and what are living there as feral animals, escaped from captivity.
If I could not identify a local animal, I would contact my local fish and game authorities. . . they will know what is native in the region, and what are living there as feral animals, escaped from captivity.
Not necessarily. I've got a mountain lion living in the woods by my house. I saw it close up with my husband. We both saw the same thing. When we asked our neighbor - who's son is a wildlife officer - he said people keep saying we have them in our area but we don't and it's just wild dogs. I've been doing rescue over 12 years and dog training over 15. I'm pretty sure I know what a dog looks like. That was no dog, it was a mountain lion.
I have seen quite a few Coatimundi while traveling south in Central America and it really does sound like your description. They walk with a tail upright, are about the size you described and the colors even match. While i was down there, some locals had a couple as pets and they really resembled monkeys. I imagine it could have been an escaped or released pet.
Here is a description from wilkipedia...does it ring a bell?
"All coatis share a slender head with an elongated, flexible, slightly upward-turned nose, small ears, dark feet, and a long, non-prehensile tail used for balance and signaling.
Ring-tailed coatis have either a light brown or black coat, with a lighter under-part and a white-ringed tail in most cases. Coatis have a long brown tail with rings on it which are anywhere from starkly defined like a raccoon's to very faint. Like raccoons and unlike Ring-tailed Cats and Cacomistles, the rings go completely around the tail. Coatis often hold the tail erect, and it used as such to keep troops of coatis together in tall vegetation. The tip of the tail can be moved a bit on its own, as is the case with cats, but it is not prehensile as is that of the kinkajou, another procyonid."
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If you saw it eating did it a) use its front paws to pick up the food or b) eat like a cat or dog?
) They DNA tested it (isn't it nice to know where your tax dollars are going?) because "no one" could identify it. (They could have asked me. I'd have done it for free. 
) It turned out to be a coyote with very bad mange so that by the time it died, it was hairless and it's skin has turned leathery - as untreated mange will do. Then leave dead, mange-ridden, furless coyote out in the TX summer sun..... and listen to the cries of "OMG, it's a chupacabra" 
