After an afternoon of speculation about photos of an unidentified carcass supposedly at Ponca State Park posted to Facebook by an outdoor sports-oriented television channel, the dead animal has been confirmed to be a blond raccoon.
And the raccoon in question was not found at Ponca State Park.
Angie Ketelsen contacted the Lincoln Journal Star on Friday evening with pictures of herself and the carcass to put to rest the speculation.
She said her dog dragged the carcass to her home near Martinsburg, Nebraska.
"I just wanted to make sure people knew that this has nothing to do with Ponca State Park," she said. "My dog drags dead things home all the time. He's missing half his nose because of it."
The initial Facebook post by the Sportsman Channel went up Friday morning and garnered more than 500 comments and 170 shares. Many speculated the animal was a golden retriever, a mutant lion and even the ever-elusive snipe.
People are also reading…
"It's just a raccoon, but it's hard to see because its fur is so matted and sun bleached," Ketelsen said.