Merrimack Police Lieutenant Matthew Tarleton, who got a firsthand look at the patchy-haired, square-jawed animal with the long tail on Tuesday, said he had never seen anything like it before.

Some in New Hampshire are calling it the “zombie dog.” Others have compared the wrinkled, emaciated creature seen trotting through a cemetery in Merrimack this week to the elusive chupacabra, a mythical beast said to roam parts of Latin America, feasting on goats.

“To be honest, it looks like something out of a horror movie,” he said in a telephone interview, as he prepared to set out to the area where the unidentified animal was last seen, to try and locate it. “I have seen some sick foxes and stuff, but this one — I don’t know what it is — it’s definitely unique-looking.”


Officials from the town believe that the creature is probably a young coyote or fox that has either rabies or mange, a skin disease that mammals contract. But until they figure it out, they’re asking the public to stay alert if near the Last Rest Cemetery, where the department’s police chief captured an image of the skinny, possibly wild animal.

“If [people] are out with their kids or pets, and if they see it, we’re asking them not to approach it or take matters into their own hands, but to notify us instead,” said Tarleton. “The message we want to put out there is not to alarm people, but to let people in the area be aware of it.”

Tarleton said he was assigned Wednesday to finding the animal, with the help of a state wildlife official. It’s unclear what they will do if they locate it, but Tarleton said if the animal does have rabies, they will have to put it down.


The picture of the unidentified animal was shared to the department’s Facebook page Tuesday, and immediately garnered attention. Some people made jokes about the animal’s species.

“Looks like a zombie dog!,” one person wrote on Facebook.

“Yes, with a rat head,” someone else replied.

But Tarleton said he doubts the animal is some mythical beast, unknown to scientists.

“I like to think I’m fairly schooled on animals, but it’s kind of throwing me for a loop,” said Tarleton, adding that he’s leaning toward coyote. “But it’s not some strange rare species.”

Sorry, chupacabra enthusiasts.

Steve Annear can be reached at steve.annear@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @steveannear.