A mysterious animal caught on video walking alongside a group of deer in a West Virginia park has wondering, “What exactly is that?”
The strange sighting appeared on October 24 as Brittany Keller was on her way to work in Huntington, West Virginia. As she passed Ritter Park, she noticed a strange animal among a small herd of deer grazing on the grass.
Once she uploaded the video with her neighbors and posted it on social media, the community became buzzing with speculation. Many citizens of Huntington were left stumped, unable to identify the creature.
“I thought it was something strange, and when I stopped to get a better view, I could tell it wasn’t something I’d seen in the area before,” Keller told WSAZ News.
Animal expert Andy McKee told WSAZ that the creature in the video “resembles a fox suffering from mange.”
Mange, a contagious skin disease caused by mites, can lead to hair loss, itching, thickened skin, and scabs. McKee’s assessment suggests that the animal could be a local fox with a severe case of mange, which would explain its unusual appearance.
On October 22, the Bristol Zoo Project in England shared an equally puzzling photo captured by one of their trail cameras. The picture, taken in the park’s ancient woodland, featured a “mysterious winged and horned creature” alongside a muntjac deer.
In their social media post, the Bristol Zoo team answered that their camera traps are used to monitor wildlife in the area, but the animal in the photo was unlike anything they had seen before. The zoo included a daytime photo of a muntjac deer, a species known for its short antlers that can resemble horns, to help viewers compare the two animals.
