Coffs Harbour 'critter' Baffles Locals

[Kirty]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/812226...-baffles-locals

A hairy, "evil-looking" creature with claws has washed ashore on a NSW beach and animal experts are unsure as to what it could be.

Surfers found the 60cm-long, dark-coloured animal on Little Diggers Beach at Coffs Harbour in September this year but a photographs of it have only emerged today, the Coffs Coast Advocate reports.

The image, taken by surfer Peter Atkinson, was published in the newspaper, sparking theories that the animal could be a monkey or a South American sloth.

But vets and senior curators at Sydney's Taronga Zoo say the decomposing animal is likely to be a brush-tailed possum because of its bushy tail.

One of the women with Mr Atkinson said she did not believe the animal was a possum and described its appearance as "grotesque", "sloth-like" and "evil-looking".

"It was bizarre — it wasn't anything like I had seen ... it was a little stiff so it was obviously about 24 hours old," Lynn Sunderland told ninemsn.

"It was definitely an animal that didn't have hair at all on its face — it was not a possum."

Mrs Sunderland said she thought the animal may have been a monkey that had fallen off a passing ship and drowned before washing ashore.

She rejected claims the photograph was a fake saying the beach where the animal was found is difficult to get to.

"This was real — it wasn't made up at all, it was an actual animal ... it was some beasty thing," she said.

The group called a park ranger after finding the animal but it was washed back out to sea before he arrived.

Mrs Sunderland said she didn't touch the animal because she feared it may have had rabies or another exotic disease.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service said the animal was most likely local and was washed out to sea during recent heavy rains.

The discovery has drawn comparisons to the "Montauk Monster" — a hairless, dead creature that washed ashore on a beach in New York in July 2008. Experts said the monster may have been a raccoon, based on dental patterns.

That animal is CLEARLY a brush tail possum that has been dead for a long time!! Its only bald because the hair has sloughed off in the water.

[Lizzy1]

Evil looking? I guess anything thats been dead a while could looke 'evil. :D

[Zhou Xuanyao]

My friend was raised in PNG, she says its a cuscus.

[fifi]

My friend was raised in PNG, she says its a cuscus.

Looks like a cuscous or brush tailed possum to me too.

fifi

[Fit for a King]

could have been on a boat and washed overboard or was thrown....poor critter...

[Chipps]

Identified.

"Its vet team and senior curators all agreed it was the corpse of a badly decomposed marsupial.

"The identification of the animal has been made slightly difficult because the possum appears to be a black furred brush tail variety," Taronga’s communications manager Lisa Keen said.

"This type of possum, a black furred morph, is really quite rare and is only found in some parts of Northern NSW as well as Wilson’s Promontory in Victoria," she said.

They said the lack of fur around the face and paws could have been caused by dermatitis or burn injuries."

Source: http://www.noosanews.com.au/story/2010/11/...ter-identified/

BTW, hello all

[Zhou Xuanyao]

Hello Chipps. Thanks for posting.

[LizT]

could have been on a boat and washed overboard or was thrown....poor critter...

Actually the tide and currents can carry stuff for miles.

Edited November 11, 2010 by LizT