Anyone have any ideas on what this animal is?

So, I happened across a shared post on my facebook feed from a girl out of Kentucky. I don't know her nor do I know much else about the images.

I can't identify what is in the below pictures and was wondering what ya'll think this could be. It's looks like another "Montauk Monster" type mystery to me. In the images the animal doesn't appear to have any upper legs? It's really weird.

Here is her direct words from her post:

"DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT THIS THANG IS...?? It only has hair on its back (thick coarse hair like fishing line), no front arms..and in one of these pics you can see how big it is with my foot beside it. All i know is I'm glad it was dead when we found it, and this thang is CREEPY!!!"

(Can't tell she is from Kentucky at all..lol)

Anyway, here are the pics. What do you guys think?

a reply to: SgtHamsandwich

I'm thinking fox. The dentition looks canid to me.

No clue what that is, but, animals look weird like that when they have mange.

a reply to: Kromlech

That's not the effects of mange, it looks like it was decomposing in water. Looking at the mud, the wet grass and the rubber boots, I'm guessing this corpse was found in or near a body of water or some persisting standing water. The front legs likely just fell off.

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: SgtHamsandwich

I'm thinking fox. The dentition looks canid to me.

That was my initial thought, but the longer I looked at it the more I doubted myself. The overall size is about right but the face just doesn't look right. Could be some bloating changing the look of it because foxes have a more narrow snout than what appears here.

Definitely thinking fox by length of tail and what I can see of the teeth. The teeth also look something like you would see from a skunk.

a reply to: Atsbhct

That's another possibility but the ears look too big for a skunk imo.

a reply to: SgtHamsandwich

Yeah I was a little iffy on the snout myself but it looks like the skin of the head has slid forward a bit if you look at the area around the eyes.

Seen them under similar circumstances before without a doubt it was a dead coyote .

a reply to: theantediluvian

I was looking at the ears too, but then I thought...just maybe, with skin shrinkage making the ear more defined and the lack of hair to make the ears blend in, the shape of the snout looks slightly skunky to my eye.

originally posted by: Greathouse
Seen them under similar circumstances before without a doubt it was a dead coyote .

What kind of critters are ya'll growing down there in Kentucky Greathouse?

That would make more sense for two reasons.

The broader looking snout and the dark color hair down down the back.

It just looked a bit on the small side for a coyote to me. The coyotes we have up here in Ohio look like dang wolves.

It is a decomposing cat!

My best guess is Stoat

originally posted by: Atsbhct
a reply to: theantediluvian

I was looking at the ears too, but then I thought...just maybe, with skin shrinkage making the ear more defined and the lack of hair to make the ears blend in, the shape of the snout looks slightly skunky to my eye.

I hope in my life time to never see a skunk that big lol. The legs, that are still there, are too long for a skunk anyway.

Looks like a ferret to me.
Although the legs seem too long.
If it is a fox then it's a gray fox.

originally posted by: SgtHamsandwich

originally posted by: Greathouse
Seen them under similar circumstances before without a doubt it was a dead coyote .

What kind of critters are ya'll growing down there in Kentucky Greathouse?

That would make more sense for two reasons.

The broader looking snout and the dark color hair down down the back.

It just looked a bit on the small side for a coyote to me. The coyotes we have up here in Ohio look like dang wolves.

Lol

You use the word critters methinks you have at least visited Kentucky .

I recognize the body I've seen them on many occasions both shot and poisoned . I wouldn't go as far to say it was an adult coyote but I recognize the teeth specifically . I will venture a guess on the causation of why the dead animal was there and absence of front paws.

I would say it was either born with a birth defect survive for a while and then died naturally or it died as a pup and some other critter gnawed its front legs off before decomposition .

a reply to: SgtHamsandwich

Could be one of these guys...Chupacabra

Otter is my first guess based on size, the snout, and how the ears are shaped and set back.

Otter skull

a reply to: Greathouse

I grew up in Alabama, I know my critters from my varmints.

a reply to: Greathouse

I was thinking coyote, too. It just rotted in water or something and the front legs fell off.