A Vark Hond, or a Namibian Hogzilla?

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/article/244107/82/Hybrid-Dog-Headed-Pig-Terrorizes-Africa

Hybrid Dog Headed Pig Terrorizes Africa

NAMIBIA -- Residents in northern Namibia, on the southwest coast of Africa, have reported being terrorized by a bizarre dog-pig hybrid creature.
The animal is said to be mostly white and unlike anything the villagers have ever seen, with a doglike head and the broad, round, nearly hairless back and shoulders of a giant pig.
The beast was spotted chasing and attacking dogs, goats and other domestic animals in this arid region not far from the Kalahari desert.
As often happens when rumors of monsters spread in rural areas around the world, some locals have taken extra safety precautions, such as traveling in groups and arming themselves with weapons.
In 1995 and 1996, some Puerto Ricans armed themselves against the vampire beast el chupacabra; last year, Malaysian residents patrolled the streets searching for the mysterious orang minyak, or "oily man" creature that had recently terrorized them.
What could this monster be? One Namibian official, regional councilor Andreas Mundjindi, was quoted in Informante newspaper as saying, "This is an alien animal that the people have not seen before. We don't have a forest here, only bushes. So, this must be black magic at play."

Some people in the area trace the beast to one old man rumored to be a warlock or witch doctor, suggesting it's his pet (or, what witch-hunters hundreds of years ago would have called a "familiar").
The assumption that the beast has magical origins is not surprising. A 2010 Gallup poll found belief in magic widespread throughout sub-Saharan Africa, with more than half of respondents saying they personally believe in witchcraft and sorcery.
This is not the first time that unusual animals have been spotted in rural areas of Namibia; several other monsters have been reported over the years, including in July 2009, when unknown creatures reportedly sucked the blood out of livestock, including nearly two dozen goats.
Though no one saw the monsters, they were said to have left footprints similar to those of a dog, but much larger. Police followed the footprints, but they mysteriously stopped in an open field, as if the creature suddenly took flight or vanished.
At that time, locals were also convinced that the strange beast was the product of black magic - going so far as to accuse an old man and his sister of conjuring the creature.
It's not clear whether locals believe that the current dog-headed, pig-bodied animal is the same mystery creature that terrorized the region three years ago.
Whether the reports are real or rumor, hopefully belief in these creatures won't be used as an excuse for mob attacks on elderly men and women suspected of witchcraft.

--In this case it seems quite obvious to me that what we have is a quite ordinary feral hog with mixed pig-boar characteristics, a round body short on hair that looks like a domesticated pig and a long-snouted head with large fangs like a wild boar's head that reminds local people of a dog's head. Please bear in mind most of the locals would only have SEEN domesticated swine and the sight of a wild boar's head would probably come as a shock to most of them.

At left, Wild boar cross with "Doglike" fangs: at right, wild boar cross with thinner hair on body.


And the 2009 "Apparition" (if it should be called such) was once again a case of feral dogs at work and leaving recognizable dog tracks. Calling it a "Chupacabras attack" would be as wrong as any other time such feral dog attacks would be called "Chupacabras", but at least it would be consistent.

Best Wishes, Dale D.

Lough Dubh Monster, The Irish Hogzilla?

Map of Ireland Above. Lough Dubh Below


Lough Dubh or Black Lake is a popular fishing venue by the River Suck in the Upper Shannon River Drainage, and which was the scene of a possible monster sighting in the early 1960s. A creature was hooked by Mr Mullaney (a schoolmaster) and his son while out fishing. Described as having "short thick legs with small ears and a white pointed horn on the snout. It was dark grey in colour, and covered with bristles or short hair, like a pig." It was said to be the size of a cow or an ass and to be aggressive. This sighting was mentioned in Peter Costello’s In Search of Lake Monsters (1974) and has been a point of contention ever since. Other creatures like it were said to have been seen later on, and some others like it in other areas said to run back to 1912.

Lough Dubh Monster

After some wrangling over the point and in response to an anonymous posting at one
of Karl Shuker's blog postings (suggesting a hippopotamus as a possible culprit), the easiest and most economic solution would seem to be that it was a feral boar hog, probably mixed feral domestic and wild boar hog. For one thing, whenever there is mention of a white or ivory horn on the snout it means a tusk, since ivory is what teeth are made out of and horns are made out of something else. This point turns up also in discussions of the "congo dragons" said to have "ivory horns", which must also be regarded as references to tusks. The anonymous commentator suggested that if it was only one tusk that was seen instead of a horn, then it could have been a hippopotamus as well as a rhinoceros. And I replied then that a hog would be closely related to a hippo and more likely to turn up in Ireland. It could have been a feral pig wallowing on the mud bank that took the bait when a tasty morsel presented itself. Swine are also opportunistic omnivores, which none of the other candidates would be. None of the other candidates would have taken the bait.


Wild Hog Wallowing

It would have been an enormous, ugly hog but that is not out of the range of possibility. The schoolteacher's reference to size was ambiguous, saying as big as a cow or an ass: an ass is a much smaller animal than a cow. And there are similar reports of "water pigs" in parts of the Midwestern USA where there are definitely feral hogs running loose in the area. Some wild pigs are good swimmers and many like to wallow in the water to cool off.


400 pound wild boar/feral cross hog at Gopher Plantations, a hunting reserve. The record hogs at the Plantation are almost three times this size.

Hunter with killed hog at Gopher Plantations, showing off the tusks.


Wild Boar Wading in muddy waters.