IDENTITY PUZZLE AT WOLVERHAMPTON.
From our correspondent.
Wolverhampton, Jan. 17.
The identity of a curious animal which was killed by a 17-year-old youth while it was running after a baby is perplexing people at Wolverhampton.
The body of the animal, which is now in a corporation yard, was found by a corporation workman in a gutter in Peel Street. The creature has an overall length of about 38in., and a head something like that of a small wild boar, with an upturned snout and a body about the size of a full-grown cat. It has a thick brush-like tail which measures about 16in.
George Goodhead, of Raglan Street, Wolverhampton, who killed the animal, said that it was running after a baby on some waste land near Peel Street, where a number of slum dwellings have recently been demolished and the area cleared. The baby ran, and the animal crouched and sprang at him. He (Goodhead) had a brick end in his hand, and he hit the creature on the head with it. It dropped to the ground, and, when he kicked it with his foot, made a croaking sort of noise.
A suggestion has been made that the animal is either one of a pair of mongoose lost over 30 years ago, or the offspring of a mongoose which has mated with a rat. It has been suggested also that the animal may have been living beneath the old houses which have recently been demolished.
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| a mongoose |
