What did I see ?

Joe10000

Hi, I don't know if anyone can help but I was driving close to Westport this morning at 5:30am and there was an animal on the road that made me slam on the brakes. I have never seen one before and it scurried off the road to safety.

It was the size of a large cat but there was no resemblance. To describe it is difficult but it seemed to be all body with a small head and snout. I have searched a lot of wildlife sites this morning and cannot see anything close.

It was very clear in my headlights so I got a good look and it was an ugly looking thing.

Any ideas ??

Thanks.

Mothman

Any idea of colour.
What did you see of its tail, length and colour

the_syco

An armadillo?

E39MSport

stoat ? (not the size of a large cat though)


Pine Marten ? (larger than a domestic cat and not often seen)

Mothman

the_syco wrote: »

An armadillo?

in Westport Co. Mayo?

Serious suggestions please!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Sounds like an Otter.

Joe10000

Definitely wasn't a stoat, pine marten or otter.

Colour was brown with no tail of note, to be honest of all the above the armadillo would be the closest in terms of shape.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Ok, Ireland has very few land Mammals so we don't have too many to choose from. We'll ignore deer, goats etc as too large and mice, hedgehog, shrews etc as too small.
You say it's not mink, stoat, pine martin, or otter. Colour is wrong for a badger and you'd know a fox, rabbit or hare surely. Not much left that it could be - and it's definately not an armidillo or any other exotic. A mangy dog perhaps?

Not much else it could have been.

littlebug

I would hazard a guess that at 5.30am, in the dark, things are sometimes not how they seem....;)

My only guess is that it was a mink or pine marten, but in a huddled up position i.e. head low and back arched rather than the stretched out position you might see in most photos, a bit like the one illustrated here. Again in the dark the tail may just not have been visible.
I'm tending to think Mink but I'm aware that's probably just because I'm associating the word ugly= bad = mink. I don't think they're ugly at all.

I don't know that there's much else it can be

cuddlycavies

Thought Mink straight away

cameramonkey

I have heard that there are munkjack dear in ireland. maybe it was one of them. because of its size and shape it can be very difficult to believe that it is a deer.

http://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/8128787.Muntjac_deer_spotted_in_Harrow_gardens/

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/25112294

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Size matters here. Munkjack are much bigger than a "large cat" and usually confined to the South West. A Mink would equate to a very small Cat.

cameramonkey

Jude Orange Poodle wrote: »

Size matters here. Munkjack are much bigger than a "large cat" and usually confined to the South West. A Mink would equate to a very small Cat.

have seen very small munjack in England, bigger than a cat but small none the less. First time i saw one I had no idea what it was. I suppose if there are none in the west then we have to rule them out.

V_Moth

Well, this is a tricky one. Ireland doesn't have a great diversity of (land) mammals, excluding bats, so the obvious choices would be Otter, Stoat or Mink. The fact that it was dark would have affected the appearance of the animal - possibly making it look more distorted.

If it definitely wasn't one of those, I would suggest Muskrat - a non-native rodent that is (unfortunately) quite common in central Europe and would fit the description. I hope it wasn't as these things could do some damage to our wetlands!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

V_Moth wrote: »

I would suggest Muskrat !

Sweet Lord! No. It was not a Muskrat.

The OP saw a mammal in the dark when things can often be confusing or distorted,(headlights can often reduce definition and an empty road leaves size difficult to determine) so please let's not lose the run of ourselves.

V_Moth

Jude Orange Poodle wrote: »

Sweet Lord! No. It was not a Muskrat.

The OP saw a mammal in the dark when things can often be confusing or distorted,(headlights can often reduce definition and an empty road leaves size difficult to determine) so please let's not lose the run of ourselves.

Ok. I should have phrased that better: highly unlikely to be seen in Ireland, but general description seems to fit for Muskrat. Does it look similar to this OP? :pac:

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

No offence, but why the red herring? A Muskrat (NOT found in Ireland) is only 1.5kg while an average Cat is 5kg (and OP said a large Cat). A Juvenile Coypu would fit the description better but I sure as heck won't suggest that either.

LostCovey

Jude Orange Poodle wrote: »

No offence, but why the red herring? A Muskrat (NOT found in Ireland) is only 1.5kg while an average Cat is 5kg (and OP said a large Cat). A Juvenile Coypu would fit the description better but I sure as heck won't suggest that either.

Jude Orange Poodle,

You might be right, but Coypu was the first thing I thought of.

We live in a country where people kept all manner of zany exotic "pets" in the boom.

Westport House had a small zoo attached some years back - has that closed?

I do think the OP saw something exotic - just a hunch, I could be totally wrong.

LC

LostCovey

Joe10000 wrote: »

Hi, I don't know if anyone can help but I was driving close to Westport this morning at 5:30am and there was an animal on the road that made me slam on the brakes. I have never seen one before and it scurried off the road to safety.

It was the size of a large cat but there was no resemblance. To describe it is difficult but it seemed to be all body with a small head and snout. I have searched a lot of wildlife sites this morning and cannot see anything close.

It was very clear in my headlights so I got a good look and it was an ugly looking thing.

Any ideas ??

Thanks.

On what road - coastal/inland?

Have you seen photos of Coypu - not known in Ireland but widespread in France, and I think parts of England.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coypu

LC

littlebug

LostCovey wrote: »

Westport House had a small zoo attached some years back - has that closed?

Closed a few few years ago though there are still some ducks and geese. I don't recall there being anything coypu like there.
I think whatever the OP saw...we'll never know!

trebor28

may i suggest Occams Razor!

kylith

Could it have been a cat with no tail?

Joe10000

Ok guys loads there and I will try to clarify a few things.

Yes it was early and I wasn't long up but as I got into the car I nearly stepped on a hedgehog and a cat nearby nearly scared the bejaysus out of me so I was alert enough.

The road I was on is inland but the area very wet and boggy, we are about 2 miles from the sea as the crow flies an a little less from a major river.

I drive a jeep and had the spots on so the road was well lit up. I have never seen anything like this creature and when I saw it it sent a shiver down me spine. I am not the best with animals
but the only one that ever sent a shiver like that was once when I came face to face with a rat and this yoke had that appearance but without a tail of note.

Now it may have had a tail but it didn't catch my eye as the body was such an unusual shape I couldn't take my eyes off it.

In terms of size I would revise my comments slightly in that the body of this thing was the size of a large cat but it had short legs.

I don't know whether that makes this any better or worse but the picture in my head is still pretty clear, 'twas an odd looking yoke.

Thanks for all your input and hope we find it !!

Joe10000

I just checked a few of the suggestions again and the coypu looks very like what I saw.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Joe10000 wrote: »

I just checked a few of the suggestions again and the coypu looks very like what I saw.

Coypu was a joke. It certainly was not one!!! I'd put the farm on it being an Otter.

Joe10000

Didn't say it was one but of all the things suggested it is the closest, definitely not an otter, this guy was fat and hairy.

LostCovey

Jude Orange Poodle wrote: »

Coypu was a joke. It certainly was not one!!!

That was precisely what the French experts would have said the first time a Coypu was reported there.

They might have preceded it with 'Mon Dieu!' but that wouldn't be Jude Orange Poodle's style.

LC

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

LostCovey wrote: »

That was precisely what the French experts would have said the first time a Coypu was reported there.

Hardly! The Coypu (or Ragodin, as the French call them) were farmed for fur in France and their arrival in the wild was no less extraordinary than Mink in Ireland, due to escapees and releases. Not a sound comparison at all.

Rainbowsend

What about a mole? Not sure what size they grow to.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Moles are tiny and we don't have them here (unlikely to have one moving about over ground either).

LostCovey

Rainbowsend wrote: »

What about a mole? Not sure what size they grow to.

They would be as exotic as a Coypu - there are no moles in Ireland, and in countries where they occur they are very rarely seen above ground.

LC