According to people who claim to have seen it, the shunka warak’in, or “carryingoff dogs” in the language of the Ioway Indians of the midwestern United States, is a black, dark gray, or dark brown beast similar in appearance to a wolf or hyena. In the past, sightings have been reported in Montana, Idaho, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, and Alberta, Canada, but in recent years, the only reported sightings of the shunka warak’in have been in the area of Yellowstone National Park. Many cryptozoologists think that this creature is the same animal as the ringdocus, a taxidermied specimen of which was mounted, displayed, and named by the owner of a small museum at Henry Lake, Idaho. This specimen was lost years ago, but cryptozoologists have studied a photograph of it, and some believe it is a primitive dog known as the Borophagusi, thought to have become extinct during the Pleistocene era.

SEE ALSO:

• beasts, mysterious

SOURCE:

The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Paranormal Phenomena – written by Patricia D. Netzley © 2006 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning