The Mysterious Wild Beast in
Ireland
The unknown wild animal, called the
dingo has again visited the neighbourhood of the classic regions of Cooraclare.
The recipient of his favours on this occasion was Mr John O`Brien, of
Danganelly. Mr O` Brien had left his sheep out for some time past, and the
consequence is that four of them, one of which was half eaten, and sixteen
wounded. Many strange surmises are rife among the farmers of this neighbourhood
as to the probable nature of this animal. Some suppose it to be a wolf; some a
brown bear; while some superstitious old women will tell you that it is neither
one nor the other, but some condemned spirit who, for his blood-thirstiness in
this life,has, as a punishment, been adjudged to continue it in the next. One
thing is certain,however, that this mischievous creature, no matter what it is,
will not be forgotten by the farmers of Kilmihill and Cooraclare for a few
generations to come. His name has now become a “ household word”, and it is no
uncommon thing at all to hear some of the folks in those localities to swear by
“the skin of the dingo.” (1)
According to In The Tracks of the
West Clare Railway by Eddie and Edmund Lenihan On April 21 a large beast was
shot 1 mile south of Cooraclare at Gower. “Much to the disappointment of
everyone , the dingo turned out to be only a mastiff…Some thought it a wolf,
some a bear, others an evil or tormented spirit. Whatever it was, we are no
wiser today, for just like Jack the Ripper, it vanished as mysteriously as it
had come, leaving an enigma that cries out for a solution.” (2)
The last wolf in Ireland
- The
- E & E Lenihan
In The Tracks Of The West Clare Railway (2008) p. 216
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