Mangy ‘monster’ gives Rock Falls woman scare

STERLING – Chasity L. Nichols never believed in monsters – until Tuesday.

The 32-year-old Rock Falls woman spotted a creature around 6 p.m. at Riverside Cemetery, after visiting a friend’s grave, that terrified her: 20 to 25 feet in front of her Ford Explorer was a bizarre, long-legged, hairless animal with a pig-like face, wrinkly skin and a long, wiry tail.

Its appearance wasn’t the only thing that startled her – as it snaked through the tombstones, it stood up on its hind feet and started hopping like a kangaroo, before climbing a fence and vanishing into Sinnissippi Park. She estimated its standing height at 31/2 to 4 feet.

“It was just the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen,” Nichols said.

“I was beside myself; really, I was. I was alone, by myself, and I could not believe that that happened. I have never seen anything like that in my life, and I don’t ever want to again.”

She took cellphone photos through the window of her SUV, then posted them on Facebook.

Some of her friends suggested it was a wallaby, native to Australia.

The majority, however, identified it as the legendary – and elusive – chupacabra, a cryptozoological critter of Bigfoot-like fame and the subject of at least one “Monster Quest” episode on the History channel.

Nichols, who thought it might be some sort of cross-breed, found its face especially disturbing. It was larger in the back than the front, and looked like a cross between a pig and a rat.

“It just looked like a monster,” she said. ... “I always taught my kids that monsters don’t exist, and this kind of made me think a little bit.”

Capt. Greg P. Hunter, a conservation police officer with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, examined her photos Wednesday. Hunter, who has been around wild animals all his life, supervises 25 northwestern counties from his office right next door to the cemetery.

At first, he wasn’t certain what he was looking at.

The animal’s posture resembled a fawn, but not the tail, he said. Its dark legs and nose resembled a fox, but not the head or the tail. The tail and the ears were canine-like, so maybe a coyote?

Hunter didn’t think it was some sort of exotic pet, although that does happen, he said. In Illinois, there have been legitimate cougar sightings, a bear sighting, a shark found in the backwater of the Mississippi River, piranhas in the Rock River and an alligator in Dixon.

No chupacabras, though.

After confirming the photos weren’t a hoax – like many of the fake cougar photos the IDNR sees – and after further examination, Hunter believes the wizened animal is a sick red fox that is losing its fur to mange.

Its bizarre, hunched-over posture could indicate sickness, he said. Mange can change the way an animal looks, he said; and sick animals can behave strangely, which might explain the hopping.

“That’s my best guess right now.”

Foxes also were reported in nearby Sinnissippi Park last year, he said.

Hunter also sent the image to a fellow conservation officer, Sgt. Laura Petreikis, who agreed it was most likely a sick fox.

Hunter, who lives in Oregon, has seen hundreds of thousands of foxes, but “If this is really a fox, I’ve never in all of my career seen a fox that looks like that,” he said.

As further confirmation, though, he visited the cemetery Tuesday afternoon and described the sighting to a groundskeeper, who said he’s seen a ratty-looking fox in the cemetery that’s nursing three or four kits.

Hunter cannot say for sure, but he believes the cemetery employee and Nichols saw the same animal – a fox. Motherhood may be causing its health to decline, Hunter said.

“I am almost positive that’s a fox.”

Nichols isn’t so sure. She searched for images of a mangy fox online, and said her critter looks different. Its bent knees and feet looked more like a kangaroo, not to mention the way it hopped. Its size and facial structure also looked different, she said.

“I think there’s an explanation for it, but I don’t think it’s anything that we know of yet because it was too different.”

She fears the animal might be a threat to public safety, especially with Sinnissippi Townhomes and the park nearby.

“There’s kids that go in the park, so it really did worry me.”

Hunter, however, does not see any danger as long as people keep their distance, and has no plans to trap or harm the animal, especially if she is a nursing mother.

He encourages people, in this and all cases, to enjoy nature from afar.

Wild animal dos and don'ts

Capt. Greg P. Hunter, a conservation police officer with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, says people should whenever possible limit their physical contact with wild animals. Among the things he'd like you to know:

–This time of year, people may find young animals on the ground or away from their parents. Chances are they are not seriously injured and do not need rescue, and that their parent is nearby, waiting for you to go away.

–Wild animals do not make good pets; if you are able to keep them alive, as they age, their naturally wild ways take over, and they can be dangerous when handled.

–Even well-meaning people who "rescue" animals and later release them can cause harm – wild animals become "imprinted" by their contact with humans, which can make it difficult for them to survive in the wild.

–Healthy animals will avoid humans most of the time. If you approach a wild animal, and it does not run away, there is cause for concern. It may be sick or dangerous.