An animal rescued last week in Pennsylvania has experts stumped.
Wildlife Works in Mount Pleasant began treating an unidentified creature on Jan. 17, after Christina Eyth of Fairfield Township found paw prints outside her home that led her to an emaciated, freezing animal, which she told NBC News was exhibiting “scared behavior.”
“I peeked outside the door, and that’s whenever I noticed the animal on my left-hand side, and it was so scared and so cold and shivering,” Eyth said. “All I could think about is ‘This animal needs help.'”
She kept the animal in her basement until TJ’s Rescue Hideaway, a local foster-based rescue, could transport it to Wildlife Works. No one at Wildlife Works, a wildlife rehab, could identify the animal species with certainty because of the creature’s poor health and physical appearance. The staff has since taken samples from the animal for DNA testing to determine what species is under their care. The test results could take up to two to four weeks.
“What do you think I am, dog or coyote?” Wildlife Works wrote with a photo of the animal on Facebook. “This pup was admitted to us last night. Suspect it has mange and we will be treating it accordingly. We also will be doing testing to confirm what it is!”
Morgan Barron of Wildlife Works told WPXI that the animal is “very timid, very scared and not aggressive” and that this behavior leads her to believe the creature is a dog.
“I honestly can’t definitively say what it is, but to err on the side of caution, since they can carry rabies and since it might be a coyote … [we will] get genetic testing done and go from there,” Barron added.
The rescue has provided updates on the animal’s progress while awaiting test results. “We are overwhelmed and thankful for all the love and support this guy is getting! Thank you to everyone that has donated and shared his story,” the facility wrote Monday.
“We did not expect his story to get as big as it did, but we are thankful for the awareness it has given to wildlife rehabilitation. With that being said, we are still waiting for the results of the DNA sample to come in,” Wildlife Works added. “He is doing much better now and is much more alert than when he came to us last week. He is still not showing extreme signs of aggression but is more on the defensive side.”