No one's talking about the SEA MONSTER who showed up in the Hamptons??! [View All]

[charlie and algernon]

A photograph of what people have been calling a "sea monster"—a rodent-like animal with a beak—has created quite a stir on the East End. Four government biologists contacted by Plum were unable to identify the species of the animal from its photo and came to the conclusion that "no such creature exists," putting forth the possibility that the photo may have been doctored. But a graphics specialist at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services calls the photo—if it were doctored—a "really good Photoshop job."


The validity of the picture has been further established by the numerous eyewitnesses who saw the animal on the beach in front of Montauk's Surfside Inn. Theories abound as to what the animal is and where it came from. Marci Caplis of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service noted that rare and unknown sea animals did surface after the Asian tsunami, and although the recent East Coast storms are not of comparable magnitude, the animal did wash up on a particularly stormy day in the Hamptons. Others have speculated that the animal escaped from Plum Island Animal Disease Center. Following this lead, we contacted Dr. Larry Barrett, Center Director of Plum Island Animal Disease Center, who was kind enough to supply his take:

"It is impossible to accurately identify the species of animal from the photo. There is no scale from which to judge its size. Additionally, when a body has had prolonged exposure to water and predators, it can be altered or appear different from its normal form. If we had the actual body, we could tell you what it is; however, from viewing a canine tooth in the picture, we could guess it may be a cat or a raccoon. I can state categorically that it is not associated with the work performed at Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC). PIADC serves as the nation's first line of defense against foreign animal diseases of livestock by identifying such diseases through diagnostic testing and by developing vaccines to protect livestock from those diseases."

The mystery thickens.

http://hamptons.plumtv.com/blog/whats_going/paging_darwin_montauk_%E2%80%9Csea_monster%E2%80%9D_real_or_photoshop_phantasy