What kind of animal is this?

[lvr1000]

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My dad in Iowa caught this in a leg trap. Something was getting his guineas excited at night which then got the dogs going. He set up a trap and this is what he got. He moved it into a dog cage and took pictures. He ruled out a dog (wrong frame structure) and a fox (too big). He got the local vet involved who told him to kill it and burn it right away. He said that it was about 3 foot long and guessed it would weight 30 pounds if heathy. The animal was docile, maybe because it was sick. He lives in the country with a large river within a mile. Any ideas?

[maddogg]

Sick coyote with a real bad case of mange?

[anonomoose]

While the animal is very sick, it appears to be either a fox or a coyote. Nature is very cruel and when populations get too large, without much natural predation, or hunters to cull the population, the only thing left is disease....a slow death...which causes the animal to lose all fear of it's natural preditors or humans.

It might be mange, or it could be a dozen other diseases that takes it down.

I would dis-infect that cage before putting any dogs back in there....droppings or slobberling can transmit whatever this animal has over to his domestic animals.

[radsrh]

Def is a sick animal, to me the tail looks to long for a fox or coyote? at least compaired to the size of the animal?

[jr37]

I'd follow the vets advice.

[lvr1000]

I'd follow the vets advice.

That was done right away

[LoveMyDobe]

Looks like a Chinese Crested dog with mange!!!

[Old Cat Man]

Fox with mange

[IrisParsons]

poor little one.... is it sick or something?
looks really like fox but I'm not sure.






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[LoveMyDobe]

Look up "Fischer" on the net. Don't know if IA has any, up here in WI one killed a friends poodle. We were warned about these animals when we got our hens. So far so good. Had a neighbor back in IA that had guineas, they came in our yard, but Dobes never got the taste of one.

[frnash]

Look up "Fischer" on the net. Don't know if IA has any, up here in WI one killed a friends poodle. We were warned about these animals when we got our hens. So far so good. Had a neighbor back in IA that had guineas, they came in our yard, but Dobes never got the taste of one.

"Fischer? Maybe you mean (click →) Fisher?

[catalac]

Fox with mange and tick infestation. Poor thing.

[snowfreak56]

I would say what you have there is a mangey sick coydog,,,dog coyote crossbreed. They are becomeing more common than some will ever believe..

[caged_beagle]

Chupacabra?

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[AlumaDoo]

Sure looks like a manged dog/coyote or dog/fox mix like mentioned. The tail may look so long and disproportionate because of the body weight loss, or it is more favorable to be a fox. Too bad critters have to go thru this crap. There are some critters that don't seem to have much use to us humans, but I sure don't wish this kind of suffering on anything. A guy from WI, on another forum I visit a lot, just shot a mangey coyote that was in his lawn last week. He buried it as well. I hope it's all been resolved and no domestic animals have gotten sick as a result.

[lvr1000]

Chupacabra?

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Too funny, that is the thing I was trying to describe to them, but I forgot what it was called. THANKS!!!!

[caged_beagle]

After seeing a few television shows researching the legitimacy, or lack there of, of the chupacabra I googled it and found alot of discussion leaning towards the hypothesis that it is nothing more than a Coyote with scabies or mange. Which sounds like the consensus here as well.

coyote_scabies.jpg ← image of a coyote with scabies; very similar to your pic IMO.

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[yoopermike]

Maybe a sick coyote. IMO. Would help to know how big the trap is though...

[lvr1000]

Maybe a sick coyote. IMO. Would help to know how big the trap is though...

Not a trap, that is a dog cage. He caught it in a "leg" type trap. I think it is 23w 42lg 26h. He makes cages for his dogs, birds and other people. Notice the chicken wire around the bottom, he probably had a type of bird (turkey, guinea, etc) in it before.

[yoopermike]

I am not one for reading all the important stuff. Trap/cage, etc. Avg coyote is 30-34 in. in length, tail 12-16 inches, and stand at 23-26 inches at the shoulder. Whereas the common red fox is 18-35 in. in length, with a tail of 13 to 21 inches, and stand 14-20 inches at the shoulder (thank you wikipedia). That being said, who the heck knows what this really is. Looking up pictures of coyotes and fox's with mange, it could be either. I have changed my mind and I'm siding with caged_beagle: Chupacabra.

[caged_beagle]

Maybe a sick coyote. IMO. Would help to know how big the trap is though...

I am not one for reading all the important stuff. Trap/cage, etc. Avg coyote is 30-34 in. in length, tail 12-16 inches, and stand at 23-26 inches at the shoulder. Whereas the common red fox is 18-35 in. in length, with a tail of 13 to 21 inches, and stand 14-20 inches at the shoulder (thank you wikipedia). That being said, who the heck knows what this really is. Looking up pictures of coyotes and fox's with mange, it could be either. I have changed my mind and I'm siding with caged_beagle: Chupacabra.

I'm glad you admitted to not reading all the important stuff; My initial post asking "Cupachabra" was more of a funny query or even joke.

In my secondary and third posts I think I am siding with the rest of the board here and guessing Coyote with scabies or mange.

Either way that is one ugly rabbit. Oh, and a five pound Robin is pretty fat!

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