What might this animal have been?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I live in Fairfax County, Virginia, just outside DC. Earlier today, around 3:00 pm, I saw an unusual animal in my neighbor’s yard. I have no idea what it was, but I’ll do my best to describe it, bearing in mind that I saw it from over 50 feet away

It stood on four legs and its back appeared to be about 2 to 2.5 feet off the ground, so basically about the size of dog. It had short light brown hair similar to that of a deer and, in fact, its head resembled that of a deer - long, narrow snout, with relatively small ears protruding upward. No visible horns or antlers. We do have plenty of deer in the area, and when I first saw it, I thought it was a fawn, though it didn’t have any spots that I could see.

But it also had a long tail, probably 1 to 1.5 feet long. The hair on the tail was also short, like the tail of a Siamese cat, not fluffy like a fox tail. That probably rules out a deer, right?

When I first saw it, it was digging in the dirt with its front feet. It was partially obscured by a bush, so I could not see its feet to tell whether they were hooves or paws. After a few seconds, it stopped digging and lay down in the shallow spot it had dug for itself. In that position, its body was curled around like a dog or cat, with its head up.

I watched it for a few more seconds (I probably observed for close to two to three minutes total), then my neighbor walked out onto his deck and spooked it, so it ran off. Its gait and its legs in motion resembled a cat more than anything else, though it was running pretty fast. It cleared a fence to get into the woods, but the spot where it jumped the fence was behind another bush, so I did not see how it got over - I saw the initial jump, then saw it running off into the woods.

I have not seen anything like it before. Its reaction to my neighbor suggests to me that it was wild, not a stray pet. I searched Google for images of local deer, wild cats, and foxes, but did not see anything close. Any thoughts on what that was?

2

That’s like twice too high for a fox, and I assume you’d know a coyote if you saw one. Well, it’s probably one of the animals on this list, though I don’t see any likely contenders at first glance if the thing was really over two feet tall. Bobcat’s out, considering they haven’t much of a tail to speak of, and a Fisher would be no taller than a fox (and it looks like a pet ferret on steroids). I don’t know all the animals on the list, and the fact that there are no pictures and the sizes are in metric complicates things.

3

My guess would be a feral dog. That would be the closest match to your description. There’s no other animal in Virginia that would be that size, but have a long tail. A puma would be a remote possibility, but would have a much longer tail.

4

Thanks, guys. I checked out the animals on the list provided by elfkin477, but didn’t find anything that matched, so I think Colibri is probably correct. Definitely not a coyote or a puma. Since I saw it from a distance, I could be off a little on the size, but I saw it profiled against a fence that is the same height as my own, so I would not expect to be off by much.

The rest of my family saw it, too, and my 10-year old daughter is spooked, for some reason, though the animal did not appear to be threatening in any way.

I’ll keep an eye out and hopefully get pictures if it comes back.

5

Chupacabra. I hear they’re invading more northern states now…

6

Can you check where it was digging for foot prints?

7

I looked, but didn’t see any recognizable prints. It was digging in a mulch bed and didn’t dig very far, so there are no prints around the area nor are there any visible scratch marks.

My wife and youngest daughter saw it get over the fence, apparently, and say that it jumped onto the top of the fence, sat there for a second, then jumped down on the other side. It’s a narrow wooden fence, consisting of vertical boards nailed onto horizontally-placed 2x4s, so the widest area on which it could have rested would be the 2" surface of the 2x4. That seems feline to me, as opposed to canine, so cuts against the feral dog theory, I suppose.

Maybe I’m off about the size and it was a fox with a damaged tail. But the coat was not thick - the hair was very short, like that of a deer or a greyhound. I really, really wish I had gotten a picture of it.

8

It absolutely was not a cougar/puma with a possibly damaged tail?

9

Sounds like a capybara.

Awesome.

10

The snout was too long for a cougar/puma, but that’s the real problem: I can’t find anything that has a long snout (think deer) and thin, catlike tail. Looking on Google for “long snout cat” turned up a breed called an Oriental, which is close, but even that has a shorter snout than what I saw.

Someone else suggested that it might be a Basenji mix. The head shape looks very similar to the animal I saw, but the Basenji’s tail is wrong. A mix could result in a longer, straight tail, though, I suppose.

Definitely not a capybara, either. I’ve been keeping an eye out for it all day, but no reappearance yet.

11

Fawn-colored greyhounds look very deerlike. We have a neighbor who rescued one and he always reminds us of a deer. Some pics.

I would note that when you say “its head resembled that of a deer - long, narrow snout, with relatively small ears protruding upward,” I’m confused, because IMHO deer have pretty large, prominent ears.

The long whip-like tail, not fluffy, makes me think of greyhound tails especially.

Edit: Also, leaping over a fence is no issue for a greyhound.

Second edit: and if it was too short for a greyhound, it could be an Italian greyhound. Or a Whippet.

12

Actually jumped onto the top of the fence.Then jumped off. That is not canine behavior.

13

I concur.

14

Mystery solved, I think. It came back today with a friend and the friend was definitely a fox. The “mystery animal” was bigger and not as fluffy, but seeing them together has pretty much convinced me that it is also a fox, but one that has mange. They were cuddled up together in the tall grass behind my neighbor’s house, played for a bit, then the mystery animal ran off.

It wasn’t as close this time and I couldn’t get a good photo of it, but when it ran I saw the head and tail, both of which matched my description from earlier. I may have overestimated the size a bit, but it’s hard to tell.

Hopefully, they’ll come back and I can get photos, but I’m reasonably satisfied that it’s a fox.

15

Or maybe not. Check out the articles on red and gray foxes on Wiki, they apparently get way bigger than any foxes I’ve ever seen. Most foxes around here are no bigger than your average Maine Coon (though fox aren’t as heavy) but wiki claims that red foxes can get to be almost three and a half feet in length not including the tail! Gray foxes aren’t much smaller…at least according to those articles.

16

Hey, I was going to guess fox with mange but chupacabra is funnier. It seems everytime there’s a mystery animal it’s a fox with mange …
Except when it’s actually a chupacabra.

17

I find it remarkable that you were able to tell that it has short hair from a distance of fifty feet.

18

Dennis Bergkamp would have known what kind of animal it was. Jus’ sayin’.

19

I’ve seen a coyote stand on a rail - but I’ve never seen a red-brown one.

20

Really? With my contacts in, I can see pretty well at 50 feet. From that distance, I could easily tell that the coat was short, not shaggy or fluffy. I probably could make the same distinction from 60-70 feet, if I got an unobscured view.

One of the many, many reasons I’m Not Dennis Bergkamp, sadly. :frowning:

Apparently, foxes do this do. I couldn’t see it because of the angle I had, but my wife and kid swear they saw it.