Syracuse.com - DEC and SUNY ESF wildlife experts solve 'The Mystery at Colter Cove'

[HuntingNY-News]

It's all about identifying a gnarly looking animal carcass discovered on the South Shore of Oneida Lake.

This carcass was found by Joseph Sallin and his neighbors on the South Shore of Oneida Lake. Submitted photo Joe Sallin and his neighbors called it the “The Mystery of Coulter Cove.”

It’s all about their several week quest to identify a gnarly looking animal carcass recently discovered on the South Shore of Oneida Lake near their homes.

“I first found out about it when one of my neighbors asked me if I heard the foxes crying out the night before,” Sallin said. “They were down by the seawall, eating on it. Its entrails were spread along the seawall.”

Before reading further, take a good look at the photo. What animal is it?

When he first contacted the newspaper, Sallin was convinced the carcass was a dead badger, an animal that is not native to this state. He forwarded four pictures. He said he based his conclusion on comments from a local hunter, a trapper and a science teacher at a local high school.

Sallin wondered if I’d do a story about it.

Following the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s new media policy, I forwarded the photos, along with a written request to the Region 7 office of public affairs, asking for the department's read on it.

The answer came back the following day from Stephanie Harrington, the region’s public information officer. It’s probably a raccoon, she emailed me.

Sallin was undaunted. He got back in touch with his sources and again contacted me. He didn’t buy the DEC’s opinion and wanted the name of the DEC’s wildlife biologist who made the ID.

“They don’t have the staff they used to, and somebody just wanted to get this thing off their desk and identified it as a raccoon. In the old days, they would have sent someone up in a truck to have a look at it,” said Sallin, who works as a land surveyor.

“Look at it. It’s pretty weird looking. It may not be a badger, but is sure ain’t no coon,” he said.

I relayed Sallin’s comments back to the DEC with another written request to Harrington at 12:15 p.m. Jan. 29. The following came back in an email the following day at 2:08 p.m., crediting Steve Joule, the DEC’s chief wildlife biologist, as the source:

“Photos of a skinned-out and partially decomposed carcass were reviewed by several Region 7 Wildlife staff, who determined that the animal was probably trapped locally and its pelt was removed by the trapper before the carcass was discarded,” Joule said.

“Though some of the most diagnostic features (e.g. “thumb-like” digit on the feet) were not clearly visible, there were enough characteristics present to rule out a badger (Taxidea taxus) and conclude the specimen was likely a raccoon (Procyon lotor).

“The species identification was re-affirmed by Senior Wildlife Biologist Lance Clark who indicated that the overall size, body structure and proportion, dentition, pelage, and geographic distribution were not consistent with that of a badger or any other member of the Mustelida family, but did fall within the expected range of a raccoon.

“Lance Clark is a senior wildlife biologist and is a Region 7 representative to the statewide Furbearer Management Team,” Joule concluded.

The clincher. Both DEC and SUNY ESF wildlife experts said the teeth of this carcass are definitely those of a raccoon. Submitted photo

While waiting for the DEC's second response, I also contacted Ronald Giegerich, instructional support specialist and curator of the Roosevelt Wildlife Museum at SUNY ESF. Giegerich, who got back to me in five minutes, wholeheartedly agreed with the DEC wildlife biologists.

“Dave, it is a raccoon. I am 100 percent certain. Look at the feet and your photo of the skull shows the dentition of a raccoon,” he said.

Giegerich also noted it was a male raccoon, citing the presence of a baculum.

"What’s a baculum?" I asked.

“It is a penis bone,” he said.

Hmm. End of mystery.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog