Sunday, April 10, 2011

What in tarnation?

I saw a critter yesterday morning that I've never seen before and still can't identify. I was standing in my field fairly early in the morning, around 8:30, when it came strolling along. It was pretty big -- let's say terrier sized, but with a much fatter body. Call it pig like. It had a ragged, unattractive gray coat, like a giant rat, and a bright pink nose. The snout had a flat end, also pig like.

It had absolutely no fear of me. As it drew even, about 30 feet away, it turned its head to regard me and sniffed two or three times. Then it continued on its leisurely way. It had small eyes and I had the impression, possibly incorrect, that it didn't see well.

I have checked out several guides to North American wildlife and I can find nothing like it.

In other news, I got a donation of a truckload of chicken shit from a local farmer. Unloading it was a chore, to say the least, not to mention cleaning up my truck and my person thereafter, but I'm looking forward to a jumping garden. Assuming the alien beast doesn't eat it.

5 comments:

  1. Your description makes it sound so much like a boar or a strange feral pig. Any wild boars in Windham County?

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  2. Naw. It was an opossum. No doubt about it.

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  3. Not even close. It was six times the size of a possum and 9 times as fat. I've seen possums a million times, believe me.

    After further research, and looking at pictures, I have determined that it was indeed a pig. More to come.

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  4. Okay. A full-grown possum is easily the size of many terrier breeds. So unless you meant American Staffordshire or bull terrier, I dunno how you got to something pig-sized (unless it was a small pig).

    Ragged gray coat, flat pink nose, like a giant rat...says possum to me!

    Maybe a Vietnamese potbelly pig? But they look like pigs, so I wouldn't think you'd be baffled as to what it was.

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  5. No, it was much bigger than a possum, and I know what possums look like. "Terrier" might have been a bit conservative, bulldog would indeed be more like it.

    I wasn't expecting to see a pig in that context, and I haven't actually seen live pigs except for giant hogs at the Guilford Fair. So I was a bit baffled. Again, more later.

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