Unknown paw print

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Reader Chris Holly has sent us these intriguing photographs taken by his father at Ottery-St-Mary in Devon.

They show a single footprint – or rather paw print – that appeared overnight in wet sand that was laid down for his father’s patio. The print is partly weathered by the rain that made the sand wet but its large size can be clearly seen by comparison with a brick placed beside it.

‘My father is not the sort of person to indulge in practical jokes like this,’ says Chris. ‘It freaked him out because the photos don’t do justice to what he originally found. The reason he took a picture and made a comment of his find was the fact that there was only one print. The area was large enough for a set of prints or at least a pair of prints.

‘Like my father I am a sceptic of weirdness but this made us wonder! I have personally done some research and have been unable to match the prints with any known British animal.’

If anyone can identify the print or suggest how just one appeared in an area of wet sand, we’d be most interested!

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 12:56 pm and is filed under Creatures, Natural Phenomenon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Unknown paw print”

Jon Downes Says:
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:15 pm
It is indeed peculiar that the footptint is a single one where one would imagine that there was plenty of room for several, if it were left there by an animal.

My first thoughts are that is is probably a hoax. However hoaxes only happen when there is someone to perpetrate them, so the abscence of an obvious suspect seems to be quite important…

Jon Downes
(Director, CFZ)
Richard Freeman Says:
February 4th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
It could be just a simulacra made by debris dumped there by the tide then wasted away.
Kirst D'Raven Says:
February 9th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
For future reference, its virtually impossible to validate the authenticity of a print from a photo. A cast would be better, as would photos of the entire area with the position of the print marked – just in case you come across any more
The shape of the main body of the print is the same as the shape you would make by pressing the side of a loosely clenched fist into the sand. The ‘toes’ are exactly the same as the imprint left by the side of the tip of a thumb – very easy to recreate.

my opinion is someone has played a prank, or you have a one legged animal with an odd shaped foot hopping about in Devon…