It was human looking...it appeared to have skin on its body very much like a human and its teeth were as fearsome as a wolf's.... It was unafraid as its teeth tore through the sheep," said an unknown Saudi in a YouTube video of "the creature," known in the scientific community as Mellivora Capensis, or simply put, the honey badger.
The honey badger is almost extinct in the region due to a combination of ecological damage caused by over-grazing, excessive hunting and human expansion into its habitat. The badger was once more prevalent in the Arabian Peninsula and is currently found in parts of Africa and Asia. It has been voted the most fearsome animal for several years by the Guinness Book of World Records. It has little fear of humans or animals and is able to eat venomous snakes. The male badger weighs up to 14 kilos and its substantial claws can grow to 40 millimeters in length.
The badger's nocturnal nature has added to the lore surrounding it. Coupled with the regional tendency to explain unknown phenomenon with folk stories, legend and religiosity, the badger's mysterious behavior has ignited a stir of reports and rumors. "I have heard a lot of stories about a creature.... Some people have said it was a mutation caused by the British and American use of strange weaponry during the war.... Who knows?" said Khalid Muhamed, a Kuwaiti. "I have heard that it frequently attacks in Basra and has been seen in the outlying areas of Saudi Arabia.... No one has seen it in Kuwait," said Hussein Bader. Not so says Nasser Ali: "I know a guy who saw it in Kuwait while camping near the Saudi border." Exactly what "it" is remained a question in the eyes of the men speaking to Kuwait Times. "Maybe it's a ghost because it is tricky and no one sees it up close, at least in Kuwait," said Nasser, who added: "The guy who saw it said it ran like a wolf." One YouTube Saudi reports sighting a "new species of wolf.
Many video clips of the creature display close-up footage of the animal. One particular clip involves Saudi sheep herders and the badger they shot and killed. "Three of the creatures attacked the sheepherder and his sheep-we shot one of them," said one of the men. "The shepherd went crazy," he added. Over and over the men can be heard calling the dead badger a "mutant who appears to attack humans." They can be heard marveling over the badger's hairless underbelly and human-like attributes.
Al-Jazeera aired footage last year of a dead badger which was shot and then displayed in Basra as a "mutant killer animal." Basra remains the center for many of the rumors surrounding the creature they call "Garta." Reports that surfaced last summer have continued over the past year. A source who requested to remain anonymous and worked with British forces in Basra last year said, "Over and over again anything unusual in Basra was attributed to the Brits.... The Iraqis said the Brits brought the animal to the area to terrorize them and kill their livestock -- hogwash!" He added: "If it rained too much it was the Brits' fault." The rumor mill continues to surround the badger and links it to the British in a variety of ways. "While I understand that this animal was not brought to Basra by the Brits, I believe its increased appearance in the entire region is due to the fighting in the area.... It is Allah's way of getting our attention," said Abdulrazak Ali.
No one is quite sure why reports of the animal attacking livestock and sometimes humans have cropped-up with greater frequency in recent years, but some people believe the surviving regional badgers are struggling to find food and have taken their searches into more populated areas. "With all the war, trauma and damage to the badgers' habitat it is no wonder they are looking for food in farms and wherever livestock is found," said Martin Bastian. "They are predators who have less and less habitat, so they are coming closer to places where people are and that is that," said Talal Nawaf.
Kuwaiti sightings of the honey badger have mostly been from afar. "It was strong like a bull-dog but it had huge fangs and teeth like a lion," said Kuwaiti desert camper Saud Yusef. "I saw it from a distance, but it flashed its teeth at me as if to scare me off....It appeared mutated, but I am sure it was no ghost.... That's one fierce beast.
(Original headline: Monster: Half-man, half-animal, ghost-like creature spotted in the region )
