Ferns, Mushrooms, Fungi and Mosses: Japanese painted fern (Ursula Red), 1 by Shadyfolks

Shadyfolks wrote:
Hey alyrics,
Yes it's true, a hoot it has been! Two TV stations & two newspapers have been trying to track me down the last couple of days. It seems I am popular, because I am the only one who has taken any pictures of the creatures. the pics where taken back in December when snow was on the ground so they show up well. My concern is that I don't want these creatures reproducing...we have enough deer.
Anyhow, the media is having a lot of fun with the story and it's nice to have a light story, since earlier this week the news of VT was so disturbing.

Here is the article that appeared in a local paper (I am not the one they interviewed, the used my picture for the article) :
Goat-mouflon-tahr thing spotted / Mystery creature puzzling residents
Thursday, April 19, 2007
They might be a kind of curly horned sheep. Of course, they could be a funky breed of mountain goat, too. Or . . . well, this sounds sort of silly, but the idea has been tossed out there . . . maybe they're mutant deer. But whatever they are, they're roaming the woods in this Geauga County community.At least three of the mystery animals popped up a few months ago, bringing a smattering of quizzical calls to Chester Township police and leaving wildlife experts scratching their heads. One resident managed to snap a few photos of the creatures, but nobody has found an answer in the image. "We're not exactly sure what they are," said Allen Lea of the Ohio Division of Wildlife, which has reviewed the photos. "But they're definitely not a native species. They're not where they belong."

Of that, everyone seems in agreement. Police fielded two calls on the animals within the past week, both from Mulberry Road. One of the callers described the creatures as bighorn sheep and declared "this is not right for Chesterland."

Township resident ........ saw one of the wayward critters Sunday and Tuesday while driving down Mulberry. The avid outdoorsman and part-time hunter and fisher said he got within 30 feet of the animal before it bolted; He ID'd it as some sort of European wild goat. "The moment I saw it, I knew it was out of place," said ..... Police Sgt. Davis said the animals - which she described as "half deer, half ram," like the result of an odd mating arrangement - left her with the same feeling. She said she has searched the Internet but has yet to find what she saw while on patrol.