I went out just after dark this evening to sit on the hammock and listen to the ciccadas, when I startled a creature eating a pile of spilled sunflower seeds.
All I saw (by flashlight light) was the back of it running away.
It was:
- about cat sized but shorter
- low to the ground
- long haired
- had a rolling gait, like waves travelling from the front to the back
- black in the middle and white/tan near the edges, like inverse skunk colored!
In fact, the first thing I thought was AAHH, SKUNK! Because it's body shape and movement was very much like that, but then I realized its coloration was exactly wrong.
I chased it to the edge of the woods where it disappeared into the under brush. I never got a look at its head
Just its back as it ran away from me...
Any ideas what it could be? I've never seen one here before.
I know it wasn't a possum, we get them all the time. And definitely not a raccoon. All our local raccoons are so brave they have names and would not have run away from us. (No stripes and not fat enough either). Definitely not a fox.
All I saw (by flashlight light) was the back of it running away.
It was:
- about cat sized but shorter
- low to the ground
- long haired
- had a rolling gait, like waves travelling from the front to the back
- black in the middle and white/tan near the edges, like inverse skunk colored!
In fact, the first thing I thought was AAHH, SKUNK! Because it's body shape and movement was very much like that, but then I realized its coloration was exactly wrong.
I chased it to the edge of the woods where it disappeared into the under brush. I never got a look at its head

Any ideas what it could be? I've never seen one here before.
I know it wasn't a possum, we get them all the time. And definitely not a raccoon. All our local raccoons are so brave they have names and would not have run away from us. (No stripes and not fat enough either). Definitely not a fox.