Weird seal alien beached thing named Cuddles

Hi all,

I felt compelled to reply to this since I am the person who took the picture (and now i come to think of it, the person who named it Cuddles!)

I dont know exactly what Cuddles was, but I can tell you that at the time we all thought it was a dead cat. It was found on Long Beach during a trip I took as part of a Bristol (UK) university Skydiving society to Perris, California. The picture was taken on Long Beach after we found Cuddles washed up.

I can tell you the following:
1. Cuddles isnt man-made - or at least if it was, it wasnt made by us and it looked pretty damn real (although quite leathery)

2. After the initial fits of horror and giggles (keep in mind we were a bunch of early 20's lads messing about in a foreign country!) , we all assumed it was a Cat.

3. To the person who criticised me for not having taken a picture of it next to a ruler or something to determine size, you may be astonished to discover that we didnt photograph Cuddles because we thought it was an Alien, we did it because it was weird and we thought it would make a funny mascot for the Skydiving club! (Again, early 20's lads mucking about!)

4. Cuddles was the length of an adult cat (although its been nearly 10 years it may not be exactly that long!)

5. There are possibilities it could have been a seal or something else - personally we didnt really give it that much thought. Cat seemed to fit the bill!

It was astonishing to see her picture on this site (we deemed her a "She" - no evidence for or against for that one I'm afraid!) as I was only seeking pictures of me in my skidiving days!! But its lovely to see her presence has inspired so many lively discussions amongst you all.

I hope thats cleared a few things up - certainly finding this site made my day!

Do me a favour , could you post up the original again please ? I seem to have missed it the first time and would love to see it again , thx very muchly .

Can someone embed the image. I am getting a 404 on this link?