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The Beast of Green Drive

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Anonymous

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I've just had a look at our local newspaper, the Lytham St Annes Express, on the front page there's an article entitled "the Beast of Green Drive" which continues onto page 3. Now, I'll type it up when I actually buy a copy of it, but for now I'll just give you a quick summary:

Basically this 'thing' as described by eyewitnesses(there are two accounts) is described as being the size of a labrador, but, bizarrely, looking like a giant rabbit, two people have seen it so far. I'm going to go out there this weekend with my camera to see if I can catch me a beast on film.
 
Well, it was debated in the article, there was mention of it possibly being some kind of deer, there is of course Blackpool Zoo nearby, but the article also mentioned that there were no recent escapees from any zoo's or nature reserves.
 
From the description it may have been a Capybara.
Either an escapee or breeding population, and they grow quite big

capy2.jpg
 
One wonders why the comparison to a rabbit was made? Because of the creature's ear...?
 
Which would kind of dicount the Capybara or even a Coypu, unless they were talking about the general head shape and teeth
 
Well a friend of mine got a strange phone call from his sister in law a few weeks back to come over to her house. She said there was a kangaroo in her garden! When he arrived he discovered it was merely a hare. This woman has only recently moved to the outskirts of a provincial town having lived all her life in Dublin. Says a lot that she is more familiar with the wildlife of a continent half the world away and cannot recognise relatively common native Irish animals :(
 
Not the full printed article, but there's a short piece about it on the newspaper's website:

http://www.lythamtoday.co.uk/ViewArticl ... ID=1012892

Strange beast prowls beauty spot

HAVE you seen the beast of Green Drive?

Sightings have been made of a creature the size of a labrador, but resembling a rabbit, along the popular beauty spot's walk.
And within the last week, the infamous Lytham rumour-mill has gone into overdrive, with descriptions ranging from a large fox, to an altogether more sinister beast.
One woman who saw the creature - but didn't want to be named - said: "I was walking through the drive when I saw it in the fields alongside.
"I have no idea what it was, but I could tell it was the size of a labrador, but looked more like a hare.
"It can't have been either - it was surreal."
The Express is aware of at least three more sightings, and police have been informed, in case the animal has escaped from a zoo or a private home.
A spokeswoman for Lytham police said: "We have checked local zoos and farms, but nothing seems to be missing. It is very bizarre. We have handed it over to the RSPCA to investigate.
A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said that they were investigsating the reports.
29 April 2005
Click to expand...
 
Its gotta be a Capybara. Those things would certainly be weird to see wandering around. I'm guessing they arent native to that area?
 
Human_84 said:
Its gotta be a Capybara. Those things would certainly be weird to see wandering around. I'm guessing they arent native to that area?
Click to expand...

South American, plenty of escapees though (a friend of mine has 2 recaptured ones on a farm in Wales) and I remember seeing reports of naturalised populations some while ago
 
Well, Blackpool Zoo has Capybaras, but like it says in the article, there are no reports of anything missing from local zoos, and anyway, it's a fair distance away from Lytham.
 
Capybara:

I wonder if they're tame (or could be) and you could have one as a pet or something?
capybara.jpg
 
Or looking at the artist impression, and taking into account the excesses that may have been include in order to make it a better story, the animal might be a Belgian Hare, which are tall, slim and weigh upto 9 pounds (and they're actually rabbits)

mybuck.gif
 
Re: Manky Goat?

graylien said:
The artists impression from this Mail article makes it look more like a manky goat!

beast060505_450x300.jpg
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Hey, isnt that picture more like a chupacabra sorta thing? Chupacabra sightings in the UK anyone?
 
Last time there were reports of strange beasts that looked like kangeroos or wallabys it was a fox with mange. could this not be a similar thing. can deers get mange?
 
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