'Mystery creature' positively identified - KOBI-TV NBC5 / KOTI-TV NBC2

ASHLAND, Ore. – Over the past several weeks, photos of a mysterious animal made headlines internationally. Many were left scratching their heads and giving their best guess on what it could be. Now, the results are in.

After being killed by a rancher near Denton, Montana, initial reports called the animal a wolf. But many people weren’t so sure, including wolf specialists who believed the animal was not a purebred wolf.

People on social media have described it from everything as a werewolf, wolf-dog hybrid to a chupacabra, prompting the latest case of mythology and fantasy coming to life.

Eventually, Montana officials reached out to Lab Director Ken Goddard of the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, for help solving this case.

With a lot of hype surrounding this animal, scientists at the lab were intrigued but Goddard said that, as forensic scientists, they just love to solve puzzles. “It’s amusing. We’re as intrigued as anybody else by a good story,” said Goddard before pausing. “We’re skeptical.”

Tissue samples of the animal were sent to Goddard’s team in Oregon. The DNA tests they ran positively identified the creature as a gray wolf from the northern Rocky Mountains.

“Confusion about the animal might be due to the condition of the animal and the photos, which seemed to show short legs and big ears,” the Montana Department of Fish and Wildlife concluded. Officials added that physical variations among individual animals aren’t unusual.