The mystery surrounding the discovery of a bizarre animal corpse in Canada has taken a new turn, with locals claiming they saw the creature alive generations ago.
PHOTOS: Baffling mystery creature
The corpse generated worldwide interest yesterday with the release of photos taken by two nurses who reportedly found the animal in a lake near Kitchenuhmaykoosib, northern Ontario.
Bearing matted fur, a rat-like tail and a feline face, the animal was variously speculated to be anything from a bear to a mixed breed of an otter and a beaver.
Now a local shop owner claims the animal was known to elders in the area generations ago.
"No one has seen one for 40 years or so," he told Canada's Toronto Star newspaper.
"The elders have a word for it: omajinaakoos … In English, it means ‘the ugly one’."
Other elders in the area said the emergence of the 30cm beast may be a sign of bad luck.
Employees at the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Band, where the nurses were based when they found the animal, were tight-lipped about speculating on the animal's origins.
But one band member, 65-year-old John McKay, said he remembered his grandfather talking about such a creature that "feeds on beavers and otters," the Star quoted him as saying.
The discovery has drawn comparisons with photographs taken of another mystery creature — the so-called "Montauk Monster" — which supposedly washed up in New York in 2008.
The photos received widespread media attention but the carcass was never found, prompting speculation the discovery was a hoax.
Then last year, photos were published of a mystery 'Gollum-like creature' spotted in Panama.
In North Carolina a supposed "sewer monster" was revealed as thousands of worms attached together.
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