THE TENBY THING

I had an email from Gavin Lloyd Wilson, our erstwhile News Editor earlier. He wrote:

Hi Jon, You may have seen this story already, but just in case...

He included THIS LINK. The story began:

For those not aware the Western Telegraph website ran a story this morning about a bizarre creature that had apparently been washed up on Tenby’s South Beach on the weekend of the 23rd-24th of February 2013, Click Here for the story.

We started receiving emails about this as the story broke and it is genuinely quite interesting because it is eerily similar to the Montawk Monster/Manhattan Monster:

Both creatures are, on initial viewing, very odd looking. Both are virtually hairless, both have strange proportions, both are discoloured, both seem to have long almost human-like fingers and both seem to have a beak/nose not usually associated with animals of this size. Could this really be evidence of Alien life in West Wales?

The article was from a website run by a paranormal group called Pembrokeshire Beyond who certainly seem to have their heads screwed on, because they go on to say: continued:

Without further examination, which would be impossible as the remains were moved by people who appeared to be council workmen, we can’t be 100% sure what it is. But I do not believe it is in any way extra-terrestrial in origin, nor do I believe that it could be the result of any bio-experiment gone wrong.

The Montawk Monster is believed by some to be a decomposing Raccoon, I believe that something similar has happened here. An animal the size of a small Dog (looking at the teeth it could even be a Dog) has fallen into the waters of the Bristol Channel just before or prior to death.  In the waters of the Channel it has begun to decompose which has caused the skin to discolour and rot around the snout/nose giving an almost beak like appearance, the fur to fall out which is making the animal appear almost unrecognisable upon first glance (although there are hints of white fur on the creatures back) and the body itself has swollen due to internal gases caused by the breakdown of organic matter.

In a world were such things quite often get blown out of all proportion by people who really should no better, it is refreshing to find such a sensible account. I wrote to them:

Hi Guys,

I am passing the picture over to one of our zoologists to identify. My guess is dog.

However, I thought I can do a couple of things to help. Firstly, you have mis-spelled Montauk on the graphic. Its an easy thing to do. And secondly, there is photographic proof that the MM was a dead raccoon. Check this out:

http://forteanzoology.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/montauk-monster-revealed.html

But well done on correctly describing it as a dead aniomal made hairless by immersion in seawater rather than jumping on the 'alien' bandwagon. There are too many people these days prepared to make capital out of stories like this. I am glad to see you guys don't

Jon Downes, Director, Centre for Fortean Zoology

I am sending the original picture to Max, Lars and Richard. I will let you know what happens next.

POSTSCRIPT: Lars confirms it is a dog but because the picture is not terribly good he can not identify it to breed. Max, who is terribly busy, wrote back that it is probably a dog. So no alien then?