Montauk Monster Update

A story posted yesterday on FoxNews.com claims the Montauk monster mystery has gotten even more mysterious. Well, not if you actually read the story and have even a tenuous grasp on reality. In the first five paragraphs, the article quotes two animal experts claiming it is a dead raccoon.

The first expert is none other than Animal Planet host Jeff Corwin. Now, I was always more fond of the late Steve Irwin, but I did always appreciate Corwin's sense of humor and passion for wildlife conservation. Anyway, Corwin explains in an interview with Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly (the video of which can be found here) what he has deduced the animal to be:

"'What you think is a beak is actually the canine teeth,' Corwin said. 'What we have is an incredibly rare' — dramatic pause — 'raccoon.'"

The article also claims New York Magazine contacted the East Hampton Department of Environmental Analysis. A representative from the Department stated rather flatly that the animal was a raccoon.

The rest of the article offers no new information, only testimony on the carcass's apparently unknown whereabouts. However, the East Hampton Department of Environmental Analysis did claim that animal control, which falls under their jurisdiction, did not remove the body from the beach. All we know is that the body is no longer on the beach. It's most likely in the possession of some quick-thinking entrepreneur who plans to sell it on eBay to the highest-bidding cryptozoology fan.

So it turns out I was wrong in surmising the animal was a small breed of dog. I did manage to come closer than most people who claim the animal had a beak. Speaking of beaks, anyone reading this should really watch Corwin's interview on Fox News. I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone, but Corwin does a great job of examining the animal from the most famous picture of it and comes to reasonable, logical conclusions. The female anchor, however, stubbornly hangs onto misinformation, not listening at all to the animal expert. Watch it all the way through to see Fox News ignorance defined.