[QUOTE=Mr. Moto]
Have you bought your traps yet?
[/QUOTE]
We’re more the leather type. 
[QUOTE=wevets]
Sounds like muskrat is a likely guess, with mink and small nutria following behind.
[/QUOTE]
Wait a minute - exactly how many animals did you see?
[QUOTE=Colibri]
I agree. A muskrat, which is much smaller than a beaver, sounds by far the most likely candidate. A foot long for the head+body would be about right. They are very common throughout much of North America.
[/QUOTE]
I like minks. Do they keep them as pets like ferretsw?
[QUOTE=BluePitbull]
I like minks. Do they keep them as pets like ferretsw?
[/QUOTE]
No. From here
Ferrets, on the other hand, have been domesticated for thousands of years. They make much better pets, but are still a handful.
[QUOTE=Wile E]
Okay, since it hasn’t been said yet.
Chupacabra.
[/QUOTE]
Hmmmmm, are we sure that we haven’t lost one of the server’s brand new capybaras, and it’s on its lonely trek home to South America?? 
[QUOTE=Gymnopithys]
Do goatsuckers swim ? :dubious: I know they can fly… Their scientific name is Caprimulgus = chupacabra.
[/QUOTE]
They’ll do whatever they need to do to get their goat.
Re: Mink. I live in Florida, in an urban area. There’s several large empty commercial lots nearby but no little swampy areas nearby and a few years ago we saw a mink crossing in front of our workplace late at night. My co-worker insisted it was a chupacabra, but we later identified it as a mink. They do range throughout Florida but I really wouldn’t expect to find them in a city. I have no idea where it came from unless someone in the nearby residential area was raising mink in their back yard.
Could it be a LonesomePolecat ? 
[QUOTE=Dinsdale]
Wait a minute - exactly how many animals did you see?
[/QUOTE]
They were on parade - the batons, the instruments, the uniforms - it made it difficult to count.