Saturday, January 22, 2022

A Pennsylvania woman rescued a ‘scared’ animal. No one knows what it is



Francesca Gariano
Sat, January 22, 2022,

A woman in Pennsylvania has experts flummoxed by the animal she discovered outside of her home.

Christina Eyth rescued the animal earlier this week near her home in Fairfield Township after finding paw prints outside of her door. Eyth followed the tracks, assuming they had belonged to her neighbor's dog after they had gotten loose. The tracks ended up leading her to directly an unidentified animal, which Eyth said was exhibiting "scared behavior."

“I peeked outside the door and that’s whenever I noticed the animal on my left hand side and it was so scared and so cold and shivering,” Eyth recalled in an interview with NBC News. "... All I could think about is 'This animal needs help.'"

Rescuing the animal was one thing: Eyth was able to lure the animal into her basement and out of the cold. Since then, though, the animal has been a mystery.

Eyth said that first, she thought the creature might be a coyote or a dog. After calling Wildlife Works, a local rescue, and transferring the creature to their facility for care, there have only been more questions.

Morgan Barron, a certified wildlife rehabilitator at Wildlife Works, had trouble identifying what this animal could be and told NBC News she couldn’t “definitively say what it is.”

“But to err on the side of caution since they can carry rabies and since it might be a coyote, we can keep it here, get genetic testing done, and then kind of go from there," Barron explained.

Barron said that since the animal's behavior is on the timid side and it isn't exhibiting signs of aggression, she believes that the animal may be a dog. In the meantime, the animal is currently being treated for mange and is being kept in isolation.


 


A four-legged creature was recently rescued from freezing cold temperatures in Pennsylvania, but what exactly the animal is has left experts puzzled.

Christina Eyth said she followed paw prints to find the animal outside her basement door in Fairfield Township, WPXI reported.

Initially thinking it was a dog, she kept the animal in her basement as it was “freezing... skiddish and scared,” she said on Facebook.

TJ’s Rescue Hideaway, a local non-profit foster-based rescue organization, was called to Eyth’s home, but they weren’t sure if the animal was a dog. So Wildlife Works in Mount Pleasant was called to help identify the animal.

The organization, which specializes in deer, raccoons, mammals and rabies vector species, said it has started treatment and collected a sample to determine what the creature is. It will likely take two to four weeks before they know anything.

“What do you think I am, dog or coyote?” the organization asked on Facebook.

Morgan Barron with Wildlife Works described the animal as “very timid, very scared and not aggressive,” which leads her to believe it is a dog.

“I honestly can’t definitively say what it is, but to err on the side of caution, since they can carry rabies and since it might be a coyote ... (we will) get genetic testing done and go from there,” Barron told WPXI.

Eyth said if the creature is a dog, TJ’s Rescue Hideaway will take care of him to help return him to full strength.

“He is eating, warm, but still scared.” Eyth said in a Facebook post. “No matter the results this animal will be helped thanks to all those involved!”

Fairfield Township is located 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.


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