Coyote? Dog? Animal experts unsure what type of creature local woman helped rescue

FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A local woman helped rescue an animal earlier this week, but wildlife experts still are not exactly sure what it is.

“I wasn’t quite sure, but ... it was scared and it was cold and all I could think about was this animal needed help,” Christina Eyth said.

Eyth saw paw prints outside her door in Fairfield Township earlier this week.

She thought it could be her neighbor’s loose dog, so she followed its tracks and found a small dog-like animal outside her basement door.

“I peeked outside the door, and that’s whenever I noticed the animal on the left hand side. And it was so scared and cold and shivering.”

But what exactly it is remains a mystery.

“It’s definitely a coyote, no it’s a dog; so with there being so much question, that’s whenever they got the Wildlife [Works] involved,” Eyth said.

Eyth coaxed it into her basement and called TJ’s Rescue Hideaway to help.

That’s when Morgan Barron, of WildLife Works Mount Pleasant, got involved. She’s a certified wildlife rehabilitator.

“I honestly can’t definitively say what it is, but to err on the side of caution, since they can carry rabies and since it might be a coyote ... (we will) get genetic testing done and go from there,” Barron said.

Morgan said even with her training, she can’t positively identify the animal.

“Behavior-wise he’s very timid, very scared and not aggressive at all, which makes me lean toward dog,” Barron explained.

He’s being treated for mange and is being kept in isolation for now, but no matter the results, Eyth said she would do the exact same thing over again.

“There was an animal in need, and I feel like I did the right thing either way.”

The results from genetic testing take two to four weeks to come in.

If you’d like to help donate to the cause or any of the rescues who help rehabilitate these animals — click the links below.

• Wildlife Works: https://wildlifeworksinc.org/get-involved!
• TJ’s Rescue Hideaway: https://www.tjsrescuehideaway.com/

Lost dog found 5 years later, 1,000 miles from home (NCD)

©2022 Cox Media Group