New Crypto: Beast of Linkou?

There are very unsure indications that a "new" crypto beast made an appearance in Taipei... Funny enough the "new" crypto likes goats... Hmmm, remind you of someone familiar? Chupacabra perhaps?

Taipei County officials, police, and veterinarians are continuing their search for a mystery animal that killed ten goats in a farm in Linkou, Taipei County.

The owner of the farm, surnamed Hung, had reported to police on Friday that ten of his goats were killed on his farm by an unknown animal. An Indonesian laborer working for Hung who witnessed the attacks said that a tiger was the culprit.

However, veterinarians from the Taipei Zoo said that bite marks left on the goats and the animal's footprints near the scene indicate that it is not a tiger. The veterinarians said that the footprints left by the mystery animal is eight-centimeters long while a Tiger's footprint is usually between 10 to 11 centimeters long. They added that felines usually do not extend their claws when they walk, and thus will not leave claw marks on the ground.

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This was reported in the China Post on 11 June 2007. A day later the "creature has been caught"... I'm not so sure.

Taipei County officials yesterday said stray dogs could have been responsible for the deaths of dozens of goats in Linkou Township that residents had blamed on a mysterious "beast." The "beast" may now also be responsible for the deportation of a witness to the attacks.

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This was published on 12 June 2007 in the Taipei Times. And they were kind enough to show us a picture of the "caught beast"...



This is the mysterious beast? How do you confuse this little pooch with a tiger? (Tigers being the largest feline.) The China post also says that The veterinarians said that the bite marks on the goats are between three-to-eight-centimeters long while a tiger's bite mark is typically more than six centimeters...

Sporadic animal attacks like this, are more than often a "normal" animal that finds that killing of domestic animals is easier than hunting (or scavenging?). Thus a pack of stray dogs sounds like a reasonable explanation.

But this time it sounds more like an explanation put out there because "they" simply don't have another explanation. Veterinarians from the Taipei Zoo are unable to identify the tracks - but are able to rule out a tiger. Wouldn't dog tracks be easier to identify than tiger tracks? Wouldn't a pack of dogs also leave several tracks, thus clearly indicating that it's more than one "beast"? Can three dogs kill 10 goats at a single go, and devour 2 of the goats completely? One witness claimed to have heard/seen the beast (it's really unclear what exactly happened because she fell down the stairs just during the encounter) "roar" at her. Since when do dogs "roar" and not growl or bark?

Well, since the 12 of June there have been no further news items about the animal. The following quotes may however indicate that "the beast" was in fact stray dogs. Or is it just a case of 1 + 1 = ?

a case that occurred in Pingtung years ago in which more than 10 mid-sized hogs and dozens of goats were killed by stray dogs in a single night
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A foreign maid witnessed the killing and insisted that she saw a tiger launch the attack.
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Fourteen goats at the farm were killed by animal bites Monday, but the owner saw wild dogs at the scene on that occasion. [A total of 24 goats have been killed by this time]
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Examining the two captured strays, neither was found to have paw prints matching the tracks left at the farm Friday, which appeared to be larger, Taipei county officials said.
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Meanwhile, U.S.-based ethnic Chinese forensic scientist Henry Lee suggested hair or bite wounds left on the mauled goats would provide evidence revealing the species of the animals responsible for the Linkou attacks.
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And

County officials said that the animal might be a large-sized dog as there used to be a dog-fighting ring near the farm where the goats were killed.

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Hmmm. A dog? What? This is in China, right?

I have heard of this from Japan, it was called Yajuu no Rinkoo, which literally means "Beast of Rinkoo", but "Rinkoo" is not "Linkou", because there is no "L" in the Japanese language.

Funny how a tiger is ruled out, due to the size of the bitemarks and the footprints. This could be a young tiger you know.

One thing that does rule out a tiger though, is that more than 1-2 animals were killed.

Erm, thats a dog
why would i confuse a blatant golden retriever for a tiger.
am i missing something?

How about a Tasmanian Tiger? It's dog shaped, has tiger markings, and has a big jaw. Could it be possible that a group of tasmanian tigers escaped extiction by being pets in China and then escaping into the wild? Stranger things have happened...

Originally posted by eagle32
Erm, thats a dog
why would i confuse a blatant golden retriever for a tiger.
am i missing something?

the owner of the goat pen was a poor dude who probably made his indonesian maid say a bunch of crap to the reporters so he can gain attention.

Originally posted by Cowboy Clint
How about a Tasmanian Tiger? It's dog shaped, has tiger markings, and has a big jaw. Could it be possible that a group of tasmanian tigers escaped extiction by being pets in China and then escaping into the wild? Stranger things have happened...
They showed on the news casts of the prints and prints of a tiger. it was pretty clear that it was not a cat because of the claw marks.

This was in Taiwan... there's like 200km of water between the two countries.

Originally posted by Thain Esh Kelch
Funny how a tiger is ruled out, due to the size of the bitemarks and the footprints. This could be a young tiger you know.

One thing that does rule out a tiger though, is that more than 1-2 animals were killed.

well the prints showed nails and stuff, and cats don't walk with their claws out.


when they captured the 'culprit' they also got the other 3 or 4 strays that were with it. The goats were in a little enclosure type place with nowhere to run, so it's not hard to imagine a bunch of hungry dogs being able to kill them.

But then 10 goats were killed, which i think might be a bit too excessive with just 5 dogs. maybe they were really really really hungry?

im pretty sure this new crypto doesnt exist because, i can't imagine a wild animal that would want to go to linkou, especially when it's so close to the city.

starving dogs have done worse things... like eaten a baby when the parents were asleep and the such.. so why not 10 goats with only 5 dogs? who said they were all full sized?