news.cenet.topWatch: Experts disagree on identity of mystery animal in Kansas

[Desmond Milligan 0]

Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Wildlife experts said a mystery animal caught on camera in northeast Kansas is not a bear -- but they disagree about what it might actually be.

A Shawnee Heights resident captured a photo of an animal spotted in their driveway Saturday and, after consulting Google Images, suspected it might be a black bear.

Tracey Henderson, the northern carnivore keeper at the Topeka Zoo, told WIBW-TV the chances of a bear being in northeast Kansas are "almost zero."

"I'm leaning more towards coyote," Henderson said. "I could see more understandably by the Colorado border, but I would say absolutely not."

Dennis Dinwiddie, the zoo's conservation director, agreed the animal in the photo is not a bear.

"Black bears, for example, will be significantly larger," he said. "Even the cubs would be significantly larger than that photograph. They can be up to several hundred pounds."

The zookeepers pointed out black bears are not native to the area.

"The last confirmed sighting of a black bear in Kansas was in 2021," Dinwiddie said, adding that the incident occurred much further south than Shawnee Heights.

Matt Peek, a wildlife biologist with the Kansas Wildlife and Parks department, also said the animal in the photo is not a bear, but he had a different idea of what it might actually be.

"This is a raccoon," he said.

Another mystery animal suspected to be a raccoon was caught on camera in Pueblo, Colo., in April.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials reviewed the footage in an attempt to identify the mystery creature.

"We think this animal might be a raccoon with mange," a CPW representative said. "It's tough to be 100% sure, but the use of the front paws and the size makes us think it's a raccoon."

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