Cross section of claw sample
When 75 year old farmer Aris Kuna of Kampung Paon Gahat went out to tend his fields recently, he got the scare of his life, being attacked by a horrible creature he’d never seen before.
It wasn’t long before a second attack, however this time was the last for this unknown beast as it was struck dead by the sickle of a plantation worker.
The creature is said to have sounded like a wild boar and lurched up on two legs as it attacked. It was preceded by a stench that could be smelled from 10 meters away.
As the local villagers examined the now lifeless carcass, they realized that this was an animal not recognizable to anyone.
Here’s the story from the Borneo Post:
SERIAN: An Indonesian plantation worker and a 75-year-old farmer got the shock of their lives when they were attacked by an unknown animal species in two separate occasions earlier this month.
The farmer, Aris Kuna of Kampung Paon Gahat, was attacked by the rare animal while attending to his pepper garden about noon. The foreigner, however, was attacked a week later at a plantation near Kpg Baing while gathering oil palm fresh fruit bunches around 9am.
The animal that attacked the duo was described as having a ‘bear and wild boar’ resemblance. Fellow workers and villagers who saw the carcass, brought by the Indonesian, could not identify the animal species.
“It’s a rare species. None of the villagers could identify it when we saw the body and pictures of it. Some even took to the Internet to find out but to no avail. Could it be one of those already considered extinct?
Unidentified Creature
“In all my life venturing into the jungle, hunting and such, I’ve never come across this species,” 62-year-old Louis Nyaoi said when met at his house in Kpg Mentung Marau, some 50km from here yesterday.
His son Jimmy Tubo, 27, believed that the rare animal could have reappeared due to the opening of the nearby jungle for agriculture and other developments.
When relating the ordeal of the foreign worker, Jimmy said the Indonesian had claimed that the animal gave a strange noise, firstly sounding like a hen followed by a wild boar sound, before proceeding to attack.
The victim alleged that the animal stood up on its hind legs when charging at him. He immediately swung his sickle, killing the animal instantly.
Jimmy, who works with the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra) added that the animal which attacked the Indonesian measured two feet long.
The animal also spotted a long mane and sharp wolverine-like claws. Another mysterious attribute to the animal was that it gave out foul smell only hours after it was killed.
Another local expert jungle trekker and hunter Paul Hnrnp, 41, said he never smelled anything like the stench. He also said that one could smell the stench from some 10 metres away when the Indonesian brought the carcass to the plantation’s FFB pick up ram for observation by fellow workers and villagers.
On Aris’ encounter, Paul, a security guard at SK St John, Kpg Mentung Murau said his grandparents were resting at a hut after tending to their pepper crops at the time.
“My grandfather (Aris) heard an unfamiliar animal outside the hut, so he went out to check. At first, he could not see where the animal was coming from although he anticipated that danger was lurking.
Part of foot with claws
“Sensing that the animal was near, he said a prayer before starting to swing his machete numerous times to fend off as what he described as an ‘invisible’ attack. Only after he felt he had slashed something that he saw a limb of the animal’s leg on the ground. Moments later, he saw the lifeless animal.”
Aris immediately dispersed the body at the jungle. As for the one that attacked the Indonesian worker, the body was partly buried at the plantation.
Not ruling out the fact that the animal could have been an endangered species, Louis believed the actions of both men as self-defense.
Well, as much as I’d like to let this one drag out and remain a mystery for a day or two, I prefer to blow the whole thing wide open!
Unfortunately, this is not some terrible unknown beast from the deep recesses of whatever recesses are…well, deep. The fact is that this creature is nothing more than an old fashioned Javan Stink Badger. It could also be Sunda, but the point is, it’s a Stink Badger.
Stink Badgers tend to smell badly due to their close family ties to the skunk. In fact you can read all about this pesky little Badger here and/or here.
If you look closely, you can see the tuft of white fur on it’s head. The Stink Badger, like other related skunky,badgy animals, vary in color from black to brown and of course have the unmistakable skunk stripe. They are nocturnal and live in underground burrows, venturing out at night to feed on insects, worms and plants.
Since this seems to be getting a bit anticlimactic, I thought, why not add a little spice and tell some of my favorite Stink Badger jokes:
Q: How many Stink Badgers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: It is my estimation that a Stink Badger has neither the intelligence or dexterity to screw in a light bulb.
Q: What did one Stink Badger say to the other Stink Badger?
A: Hey Ralph, would you mind standing down wind?
LOLOLOL! Yea, I know! OK, catch your breath and we’ll continue.
Q: What do you get when you cross a Stink Badger with a Skunk?
A: I don’t know, but it sure would smell!
HA! Hohahahaha! Phewww! *wipes tear* They just keep getting better!
Q: If you were in the dark jungle at night, how would you know a Stink Badger was coming?
A: You would be trampled by other animals with clothespins on their noses!
OK, I know you don’t want this to end, but one more and that’s it!
Q: If you are on an elevator with a Rabbi, a Cowboy, a Movie Star and a Stink Badger and you smell fart, how do you decide the guilty party?
A: Ask the Stink Badger, I mean come on, have you seen how long his nose is?
Alright! Enough! Sit down there in the back tough guy or I swear I’llll….run.
Thanks goes out to the Borneo Post as well as the beloved Stink Badger.
Associated Content:
GT: Mysterious Animal Brings Rumors Of ‘Genetic Experiment’
GT: Dog Headed Pig Terrorizes Villagers
GT: Video: Chupacabra Trapped and Released?
