A few members of the University of Maine at Presque Isle community have recently seen a suspicious wild animal near the far end of campus by the tennis courts. This medium-sized animal has even attacked a student and a staff member in the last month. The campus community is on edge and everyone is on the lookout for this dangerous animal, some people are calling a “Rakunk.”
A couple of people around campus have seen this animal and they are describing it as having brown fur and stripes along it’s back. Individuals who have been near the animal have noticed that it has a very pungent odor. A few people immediately assumed that it was a skunk due to the smell, but many others who have seen the animal thought it was a raccoon.
“I had just gotten out of the gym and I was walking back to my dorm. I saw an animal by the gates near the soccer field and I thought it was raccoon. But then I noticed that it had stripes,” Cole Beaver said. “I talked about it with my roommate and he joked around by saying it was a Rakunk.”
Students across campus are now calling this mysterious animal “The Rakunk,” which people believe is a raccoon-skunk hybrid. Some people have even parked their cars by the tennis courts to catch a glimpse of the Rakunk.
The student who was attacked by the Rakunk was a freshman commuter student who was just taking a walk in between classes. She was walking by some trees near the back of campus when it came at her. She thought it was just a squirrel, so she approached it, only to find the Rakunk. It was the middle of the day, so many people are confused about why the attack happened.
People are on the lookout for a raccoon-skunk hyrbid on UMPI’s campus.
The Rakunk made his second attack a few weeks later in the early morning. It attacked an UMPI facilities worker and he suffered bruises and scratches. The animal attacked his upper body, leaving many scratches on his arms and face. The facilities worker remembers it running up on him from the side. He noticed that the animal had a terrible smell and was very frantic.
Campus security and the Presque Isle Police Department are doing everything they can to catch the animal and possibly identify its species. Nothing like this has ever happened before on UMPI’s campus, and everyone is concerned about their safety.
“Please stay away from that area of campus. We do not want anymore attacks happening from this dangerous animal,” Taylor Gram, Vice President of UMPI, said. “I have heard many speculations regarding its identity, but I can assure you that there is no such thing as a Rakunk. The safety of our community is first priority at this institution.”
